I can't stay away from you
by Calypsana
Summary: Ezra took the job in New Orleans and left Rosewood. Will he be able to stay away from Aria or will he come back and fight for the girl he loves? And will Aria's parents be the only threat they will have to face? Will Aria ever find out what happened to Alison?
1. Chapter 1

**Hi!**

**So this story takes place before 2X25, Ezra took the job in New Orleans and left Aria. There are some differences from the show, I'm not going to follow exactly what happened in the show but I hope you will like it. I have to warn you, English is not my native language so I'm so sorry for the mistakes I make. Please tell me what you think about my story and about my English. If my story sucks or if my English is terrible, it's okay, tell me, I would not be upset and I will try to improve it. If you have some time it would be really nice to tell me which errors I made so I would be able to correct them and to improve my writing.**

**Thanks!**

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**Chapter one**

**Ezra's POV**

"Okay, thank you for your attention. See you on Thursday." I said to my students at the end of the day.

I was in New Orleans since four weeks now. Four weeks since I had left rosewood, four weeks since I had left_ her. _The town was beautiful, the college where I taught was very great, with a good program, and my students were amazing. Actually, I had everything I had always dreamed of since I had decided to be a teacher but I didn't really care because I couldn't have the only thing I really wanted: Aria.

Since I was here, I hadn't been able to spend more than three seconds without thinking about her. I missed her so much; I had never missed someone like I missed Aria. When Jackie had left me and had broken our engagement, I had been very upset and sad but nothing comparable to the pain I was feeling now. I hadn't talked to Aria since I had left Rosewood even if, every night, I took my phone and began to dial her number but I hung up before I hear the first ring. I knew it would just make things worse for her and for me too. Plus, we had promised not to call each other and I was determined to keep my promise, but thinking that I would never be able to hear her voice again was horrible.

I left the college around seven, I had been in my office for two hours, I wanted to correct my students' tests but, as usual, I had spent two hours thinking of Aria without correcting any test.

I reached the parking lot, took my car and drove up to my apartment.

It was a nice place, on the fourth floor with a beautiful view over the city and bigger than my tiny apartment in Rosewood. The first thing I thought when I had seen it was _"Aria would love this place"_ but, of course, I knew that she would never come here. This idea was killing me. I couldn't believe that I would never see her again. I couldn't stop wondering if I had made the right decision by taking the job. But, did I really have a choice? Her parents had been perfectly clear; if I didn't leave the town they would call the police. I had taken the job because I was very scared of what her father could do. When I had told Aria that I had decided to take the job she had been very upset but when I was on the point to tell her that I had changed my mind, she had told me that I should take it. So I had made the hardest thing I had ever done: saying goodbye to the girl I loved.

But how had I been able to think that I could get over her?

I was on the point to sit down on my couch with a sandwich when I heard a knock on my door. I had no idea who it could be. I didn't have any friends in New Orleans yet. Maybe just a neighbor! I opened the door and saw my best friend, Hardy, in front of me.

"Hey buddy," Hardy greeted me with a big smile on his face.

"Hardy! What are you doing here?" I asked him before hugging him. I didn't expect him at all but I was very happy to see him.

"Well, I couldn't wait to see where my best friend lived," he told me. "Are you going to let me come in or what?" He asked, smiling as I realized that he was still on the porch.

"Yes, of course, sorry, come in," I said, stepping to the side to allow him entry.

"Wow, man, what a good place!" Hardy said when he came inside, looking around him.

"Yes, the apartment is pretty good. Do you want something to drink?" I asked him.

"A beer would be perfect," Hardy replied.

"So, how are you doing? How is the life in New Orleans?" Hardy asked me when we sat down on my couch with two beers, a few seconds later.

"Oh, the city is great, I'm fine!" I lied. I didn't really want to complain about how much I missed Aria even if I had told him everything about my story with her a few months ago.

"Are you sure?" He asked me, septic. Of course he was not an idiot; he knew that I was lying.

I sighed. "Actually no, to be honest ,it's just like hell." I told him, choosing to be honest with him.

"It's Aria, isn't it?" He asked me, even if I knew he already knew the answer.

"I don't know if I will be able to do it, Hardy, I mean, to get over her. It's crazy how much I miss her; I can't stop thinking about her," I said.

"Oh man, I'm so sorry. I know it's hard but you need some time. But to be honest with you, you made the right decision," Hardy said trying to comfort me.

"Yes, I guess you're right," I said, less convinced than he was.

"What you need right now is a good time with your best friend, we could get out tonight, it would be great, wouldn't it?" Hardy asked me.

"I don't know, Hardy, I'm sorry, but tonight I really don't want to go anywhere." I told him, hoping he was going to give up on his project. I should have known that Hardy wasn't the kind of guy who gave up easily.

"Oh come on, you can't stay here all the time , you need to have some fun, plus, I really want to visit New Orleans, please Ezra, do it for me?" Hardy begged me.

After all, I could do an effort for my best friend, and maybe he was right, maybe I needed to get out.

"Okay, fine!" I complied.

"Great, come on, let's go," Hardy said, walking toward the door.

* * *

Half an hour later we were at the Maple leaf Bar. I had never been here but one of Hardy's friends had told him that it was the best bar of New Orleans so he had insisted to go there.

"Wow, this place seems great!" Hardy said when we came in the Bar.

There were a lot of people inside even if we were on a Tuesday night. But Hardy's friend hadn't lied, the bar seemed really great. Actually, it didn't even look like a bar; it was more like a cabaret. There were even dancers.

We sat down around a table and Hardy ordered two drinks. I couldn't help remembering the first time I had met Aria, it was in a bar, a tiny college bar, I remembered the first time I had seen her, so beautiful but also so sad , she was…

"Ezra? Are you still here? Come on, man, I'm talking to you!" Hardy said, interrupting my thoughts as I realized I hadn't even heard a single word.

"Sorry, what have you said?" I asked him with an apologetic smile.

"I said we should…" Suddenly he interrupted himself on the middle of his sentence and looked at something behind me.

"Damn! Look at these girls, they are so freaking hot!" I turned around and I saw two girls, a blond and a brunette who were watching us, smiling.

"Oh my god! They are looking at us!" Hardy said like a kid opening his presents on a Christmas morning.

"I'm gonna ask them to join us," he told me.

I shook my head. "No, please, don't do that!" I didn't want to talk to these girls but apparently Hardy and I weren't on the same page.

"Oh, come on, Ezra, we can't let go such beauties. I want the blond one, you can have the brunette," he told me.

"Hardy, I'm not interested," I told him.

"Oh, man, I'm not asking you to marry her, be nice and smile that's all, do it for me," he told me. And before I could add anything he stood up and walked toward the girls.

"No, Hardy, wait!" I tried to stop him, but it was too late, he was already talking to the girls. Two minutes later, Hardy came back with the girls.

"Ezra, this is Sutton and Lily," he said by introducing the girls.

"Sutton, Lily, this is my friend Ezra," Hardy introduced me.

"Pleased to meet you!" Sutton and Lily said, smiling at me.

"Me too," I said, trying to smile.

"We would be glad if you join us, right Ezra?" Hardy told me, looking at me intensely.

"Sure," I said, trying to be as convincing as possible, cursing Hardy at the same time to put me in this situation.

The two girls sat down around the table with us, Sutton, the blond one, next to Hardy and Lily, the brunette, next to me. We spoke together for a little while, or to be honest, Hardy spoke, making jokes which made laugh the girls, the most part about our college years but suddenly Hardy asked Sutton to dance , she said yes and they left me alone with Lily. Hardy didn't even look at me; of course he knew that if he had done it, my glance would have prevented him from doing that.

"So, Ezra, what are you doing in New Orleans? " Lily asked me. I looked at her; even if the only thing I wanted at this moment was to run away from there and go home, I couldn't be impolite.

"Oh, hum, I live here now, I got a job," I replied.

"What kind of job?" She asked.

"I'm a teacher," I replied.

"Oh this is great, my brother is a teacher too, and what class are you teaching to? High school?" Lily asked me.

This question! Aria had never asked it when we met, if she had done it, everything would have been different, very different!

"No, college," I said.

"Great!" She said, smiling. Then she took a sip of her drink. Maybe it was my turn to ask the questions now. And if I was lucky Hardy would be back soon.

"And what about you? What is your job?" I asked her trying to seem really interested.

"I'm a stylist, I have a little enterprise here! "She told me, proudly.

"Oh it's amazing," I said. But I didn't know what to say after, I was so uncomfortable, I wanted to be anywhere but there. I looked over my shoulder to see where Hardy was and I saw him, kissing Sutton on the dance floor. When I looked back at Lily she seemed closer to me and she was smiling.

"Sutton and your friend seem to have a good fun, maybe we should do the same, don't you think?" She said by enrolling up a drill of her hair around her finger.

I wasn't stupid, I knew exactly what she was thinking. I looked at her. She was a pretty girl; she was tall and thin with black hair and green eyes, she was exactly the kind of girl I liked but, right now, the only brunette I wanted to be with was in Pennsylvania. I wanted to run away from here but I didn't want being nasty, after all she was a nice girl; it wasn't her fault if she was trying to seduce a man who was deeply in love with someone else.

"Look, Lily, you seem very great but I can't," I told her.

"Of course you can!" She said. And before I could add anything, her lips were on mine. I pushed her away from me as fast as possible, maybe a little too hard.

"What are you doing? I told you NO!" I said angrily.

"What the hell is wrong with you?" She yelled at me.

Then I got up from the table and walked toward the exit without trying to find Hardy. I got out of the bar and began to walk toward my apartment. Even if it was far, I didn't want to take a cab , I was so angry that I needed to calm me down.

"Ezra, Wait!" I heard Hardy behind me.

I kept walking , ignoring him.

"Ezra , please!" Hardy begged again.

"Go away, Hardy!" I told him.

"Ezra, I'm sorry, I just thought…"

I stopped and faced him, anger all over my face. "You thought what?" I said, looking dagger at him. "That I was going to make out with the first girl I would meet? That I just needed to meet a pretty girl with a skirt to forget Aria? Don't you understand? I love her, okay? I just can't stop loving her and I don't want to, I want to be with her, I should have fought for her instead of running away like a coward and you know what? This is exactly what I am going to do," I said.

"What do you mean?" Hardy asked, amazed.

"I mean that I'm coming back to Rosewood!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Thank you so much for your reviews, it's really nice. Once again I'm truly sorry for all my errors; I hope it's not too horrible.**

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**Chapter two**

**Ezra's POV**

_Previously: "What do you mean?" Hardy asked, amazed._

"_I mean I come back to Rosewood" I told him_

"Ezra, no, wait!" Hardy yelled, grabbing my arm. "You can't do this, you have a job here and it's too dangerous for you, you could go to jail!" He told me. But it was too late I had already taken my decision.

"Hardy, I took my decision, there is nothing you can do! Let me go," I told him.

"Okay, fine, if it's what you want! Go! Go messing up your life for a high school student who has probably already forgotten you!" Hardy yelled.

I couldn't believe he had said that. He didn't even know Aria, how did he dare to say that? At this moment I was so angry that I could have punched him in the face but I just left him without saying a word.

During the way up to my apartment, I thought of what I was going to do. I needed to give the college my resignation but I couldn't leave in the middle of the week, I had to wait until the weekend. Or maybe I could call the college and tell them I was sick, I couldn't wait to come back. For the first time since I had left Rosewood, I felt relieved. Of course I had no idea what I was going to do with Aria's parents; they were going to be very angry. But I knew it was the right decision, and the only thing that mattered was that I was going to see Aria soon.

When I came back to my apartment, I took my suitcase and put some clothes inside. One hour later, I was still packing when someone knocked on the door. I glanced at my watch: 00:20. It was a little too late to disturb people; I opened the door, surprised to find Hardy in front of me.

"If you come to try to make me change my mind, you can leave because I have already taken my decision and nothing can stop me," I told him. I was still so angry with him after what he had said about Aria.

"No, I come to give you this," Hardy said before taking something in his jacket. Then he gave me a plane ticket.

"Your flight is at nine o'clock tomorrow morning, be on time. If you don't have time to tidy everything, don't worry, I will do it," Hardy told me. I was so amazed; I couldn't believe he had done this for me.

"Hardy, thank you so much, I don't know what to say," I told him.

"It's alright! Ezra, I'm truly sorry for what I did tonight and for what I said about Aria. I just don't want you to get hurt. But I still think that coming back to Rosewood it's not such a good idea, you can get a lot of troubles, you can lose everything," Hardy told me.

I was astonished. If he thought that returning to Rosewood was a bad idea so why did he buy me a place ticket?

"So why did you buy me a ticket?" I asked him.

"Because you're my best friend and I want you to be happy! And apparently, Aria seems to be the only one who can make you happy, I know you really love her!" He told me.

"Yes, I really do," I replied.

"I know, it's why I did it," he said.

"Thank you, Hardy; it means a lot to me," I said by hugging him.

For the first time since a long time I felt happy, my best friend had done an amazing thing for me and I was going to see the girl I loved in a few hours.

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**Aria's POV**

It has been a month since Ezra had left the town and I still couldn't realize that I was never going to see him again.

I tried to keep myself busy all the time to prevent myself from thinking about him. Now that he had gone my parents, especially my father, were relieved and I was allowed to go wherever I wanted without a chaperon. They didn't have to worry about me sneaking around to see him anymore. So, I spent a lot of time with the girls, studying for school and trying to find out who A was, of course without any success, this bitch kept harassing us all the time. But no matter what I could do, I couldn't stop thinking of him and every night I couldn't help but cry.

When Ezra had told me that he was going to accept the job in New Orleans, I had been angry and disappointed, it was as if he was giving up on us, but I knew it was the best option for him. It was a huge opportunity for his career and I didn't want him to get hurt because of me, I loved him too much for that. And I knew that my father would have done everything possible to ruin his life if he hadn't leave. So, I had told him to take the job, and he had left Rosewood. I didn't regret my choice but I've missed him so much. And I couldn't help being angry. Angry with my parents, especially with my father who had never even tried to understand my relationship with Ezra and who had taken him away from me and angry with the life and the social conventions which turned this relationship into something wrong but we hadn't done anything wrong, except falling in love. Since the beginning the all world seemed to be against us. My parents, Jackie, A, everybody.

"Hey, so for tonight, can you come to my place at 6 o'clock? It would be nice if we dress up together with the girls, don't you think?" Hanna asked me when I saw her in school, at lunch time.

"Dress up for what?" I asked her. I had no idea what she was talking about.

"The Masquerade, of course! Aria, please, don't tell me that you forgot," she told me, pissed.

The Masquerade, of course. It was tonight! Our school organized a masquerade on Wednesday night, but with Ezra always in my mind and the problems with A, I had totally forgotten. I really didn't want to go there but I had promised the girls so I couldn't cancel.

"No, no, of course, I didn't forget, I was just distracted, sorry," I lied to my friend. "But it's okay; I will be at your place around 6 o'clock, "I told Hanna, smiling.

When I came back home, I went straight to my closet to try to find a dress for the ball. After fifteen minute I finally found what I was looking for and took a red and black dress out of the closet. It would be perfect with a mask. I put the dress in my bag, and I went downstairs.

"Hey, where are you going?" My mom asked me.

"I'm going to Hanna's house; we're going to dress up together for tonight," I replied.

"Okay, so I'll see you there," she told me.

As a teacher my mom would be at the masquerade too, as a chaperon.

"Okay, mom. Bye," I said before leaving the house.

* * *

"You're gorgeous, Aria!" The girls told me when I got out from Hanna's bathroom, ready for the ball. I looked at me in the mirror. They weren't lying, I looked pretty good. The dress was beautiful especially with my long curly hairs down on my shoulders.

"Thanks guys, you're amazing too," I said, and I wasn't lying either. The three of them were perfect ,especially Hanna with her long white dress.

"I think it's time to leave. I told Caleb I will meet him around seven," Hanna said with a smile like everytime she mentioned her boyfriend's name.

"Okay, so let's go!" Spencer said, taking her purse and her keys.

We took Spencer's car and ten minutes later we were in front of Rosewood High, where the masquerade was.

"Girls, don't forget your masks!" Hanna told us before getting out of the car. I put my black mask on my face like Spencer and Emily and we followed Hanna.

There were already a lot of people inside. It was odd to see everybody with a mask, it was almost impossible to recognize them, I wondered if A was here. But I was pretty sure he/she was, as usual.

"Do you think A is here?" Emily asked, as if she was reading my mind.

"A is everywhere," I replied.

"I just hope he/she is not going to screw up your evening this time," Hanna said.

I knew she was talking about the Charity Dance, a few months ago. It had been a disaster. A had forced Hanna to dance with Lucas so Sean had broken up with her. Emily had gotten really drunk and by the end she had accused Ian of being Alison's murderer, in front of everyone. I hadn't had a better time either. I was too focused on Simone, my former babysitter that my mother had tried to push into Ezra's arms. I had been really jealous and pissed all the evening and it could have been worse if Spencer hadn't prevented me from making a big mistake. But it was also during this evening that Ezra had told me for the first time that he was in love with me.

I smiled as I remembered this memory and then the pain came like every times I realized that it was over, that I would never see him again.

"Caleb's here," Hanna said, interrupting my thoughts and running toward him. I watched her and smiled as she joined Caleb and wrapped her arm around his neck. It was good to see her happy especially after all she had been through these past few months.

"Look who is here too," Spencer told me in a low voice. I looked around and saw Jenna and Noel. They didn't have their masks yet so it was easy to recognize them.

"Look at Noel's smile, he creeps me out," Emily said, disgusted. But she wasn't the only one. I was afraid of him, especially since the night at school when he'd tried to attack me. He had said that he wasn't attacking me but I knew he had lied and I even thought he could be A. But even if he wasn't, he was a jerk anyway. He had tried to blackmail Ezra a few months ago and he had almost ruined our relationship.

"Yes, me too," Spencer added. "We should keep an eye on them tonight. Plus, it's not like we have something else to do," she told us.

Of course, she was right, contrary to Hanna, we didn't have someone to dance with.

"Aria, is it you?" I heard my mom's voice behind me.

"Yes, mom it's me," I said, giggling.

"I wasn't sure with this mask, you're very beautiful, sweetie!" My mom told me.

"Thanks mom. Where is daddy? I thought he was with you," I asked my mom as I noticed that she was alone.

"Oh, yes, but he didn't feel good so he stayed at home with Mike," she replied.

"Okay, I hope he will feel better soon," I said.

"So do I. I'm sorry, I've to go; I need to help Mrs. Welch , she is waiting for me. Have a great evening, girls." My mom told my friends and me, before leaving.

* * *

The two next hours were pretty boring, Spencer, Emily and I tried to keep an eye on Jenna and Noel while Hanna was dancing with Caleb but nothing happened. A few guys asked me to dance but I refused every time.

"Oh my god! Aria!" Spencer said as we were still watching Noel and Jenna while Emily was in the bathroom.

"What?" I asked.

"You… you should look here!" She said strangely. She seemed really astonished. I looked in the direction she was pointing to but I didn't see anything.

"What? Spence, I don't see anyth…" Suddenly I stopped in the middle of my sentence. And I felt my heart jump. No, it couldn't be true. Next to the door was Ezra, in the middle of everybody. He was wearing a suit and he also had a mask in his hands.

"What is he doing here? I thought he was in New Orleans!" Spencer said as amazed as me.

"So did I!" I told her without looking at her, my eyes still on Ezra. Suddenly, he looked exactly in my direction and began to walk toward me. I didn't walk to join him; I was so shocked that I couldn't even move.

"Ezra, what… what are you doing here?" I asked him when we were only at one inch from each other.

He tenderly smiled before asking me, "Dance with me!" He said without answering my question.

"What? But…" I began to say, amazed.

"Please, Aria, dance with me!" He asked me again by taking my hand. So, I followed him on the dance floor; he put his mask on his face and we began to dance. I shivered when he wrapped his hands around my waist.

"So, Ezra, I don't understand, what are you doing here?" I asked him.

"I missed you too much," he said.

"I missed you too, so much. But your job, we are in the middle of the week, I…"

"I gave my resignation," he said, interrupting me. I was shocked. I didn't understand what this meant. Was he going to stay?

"You mean… you're going to stay in Rosewood? I hesitantly asked.

"Yes! It doesn't matter how hard I try _I can't stay away from you_. I love you, Aria," he whispered in my ear. I didn't remember having been more happy than I was at this moment, I even wondered if it was a dream.

"I love you too, so much." I said as the tears began to fill my eyes.

Suddenly, he began to pull my mask off while a Lady Antebellum song, _Just Kiss, _started.

"Ezra, what are you doing?" I said amazed. He couldn't do it. The entire school was here and especially _my mom_ was here.

"It's our first dance, I want to see you," he said, smiling and then he pulled my mask off totally.

We looked at each other intensely and he caressed gently my cheek before kissing me. I trembled when his lips met mine. It was the most magical kiss we had ever shared. And god knows we had shared a lot! I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me closer to him. I had missed him so much. It was so good to feel the taste of his lips. I didn't know how long our kiss lasted, at this moment it was as if we were alone in the world, nothing mattered except us and I didn't want it to stop.

We finally broke apart when the song stopped. After a few seconds I finally glanced around me. Everybody was staring at us. I saw the other couples, who were dancing, whispered about us; of course it was surely weird for them to see their former English teacher kissing a student in the middle of the dance floor. Spencer, Emily, Hanna and Caleb were looking at us too, pretty amazed but Hanna was smiling and the girls did the same when they met my look, trying to support me.

Then I saw my mother. She was next to Mrs. Welch who seemed astonished and was looking at us weirdly, a hand on her mouth. My mom seemed even more surprised, her mouth was almost open and she looked like someone who was on the point to have a heart attack. I had never seen this look on her face, not even the day when Ezra and I had told her about our relationship. Contrary to my father, my mom had tried to understand my relationship with Ezra but it didn't mean she was okay with it and I could bet that she wasn't happy to see her former colleague kissing her daughter in front of everyone.

I could have been worried about what people thought but at this moment I didn't care, the only thing it mattered was that Ezra was back and that he was going to stay. So I looked at him and I smiled to make him understand I didn't regret this kiss. I was relieved when he did the same and smiled to me too.

"I think I should go now, before someone begins to throw me tomatoes," he whispered in my ear as a new song began. "But, come over to my apartment tonight, if you can, whatever the hour," he added.

"Okay, I will find a way," I told him. He gave me a quick peck on the cheek before walking toward the exit followed by people's looks. When he passed next to my mom she didn't even try to stop him, she seemed still shocked and watched him pass without saying a word.

As soon as he left my friends joined me.

"WOW, that was epic!" Hanna said, smiling .

"Yes, I know, I can't believe he did that!" I said, blushing.

"So, why did he come back? Is he going to stay?" Emily asked me.

"Yes!" I said smiling widely.

"Aria! Come with me, I need to talk to you. Right now! "My mom said all of a sudden, interrupting us.

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**Please review to tell me what you think about this chapter. I wanted to include the masquerade because it was epic ^^, but I changed a few things of course. Don't be afraid to tell me about my errors. And A will be more important in the next chapters.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Thank you so much to everybody who posted a review, it means a lot to me, you are so nice. And I also want to thank the persons who added this story to their favorites or to their story alerts, thank you so much.**

**Once again I'm sorry for my errors.**

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**Chapter three.**

**Aria's POV**

Previously: "_Aria come with me, I need to talk to you. Right now!" My mom said ,angrily_.

I gave an apologetic smile to my friends and followed my mom. People looked at me and whispered when we passed next to them but I was so afraid of the coming conversation that I didn't pay attention to them. We got out of the gymnast, where the masquerade wa,s and she led me up to her classroom. I reluctantly followed her inside even if the only thing I wanted was to run away as fast as possible.

"What the hell was that?" She screamed as soon as the door was closed. She was standing in front of me, her arms crossed on her chest and teh least I could say was that she didn't look happy.

"Mom, I swear, I didn't expect that, I didn't even know he was back. He just showed up tonight," I said, trying to explain myself.

"Oh, he just showed up? And of course he thought that it would be a good idea to kiss you in front of everybody! What the hell were you thinking? The entire school was here, your teachers were here, and even the principal was here!" My mom said, furiously.

"Mom, please, I…" I began to say.

"Why did he come back, anyway?" My mom asked me, interrupting me.

I didn't know what to say. Should I lie and told her he wasn't going to stay so I could keep sneaking around to see him? But it was ridiculous he wasn't going to stay locked into his apartment forever, she would see him one day or another. And I was so tired of lying all the time. I had lied to my mother about my father's affair, I had lied to my family and to the girls about my relationship with Ezra and I kept lying to everybody about A. Sometimes it was as if my entire life was a lie.

"He told me he had quitted his job in New Orleans and …. that he was going to stay in Rosewood." I said, hesitantly.

"WHAT?" My mom asked, totally amazed.

"Mom, please, I know you're upset but he came back for me, _for me,_" I said more for myself than for my mom. I still couldn't believe he had come back for me.

"But, do you understand how crazy and stupid was what he did tonight? He kissed you in front of everyone! And people talk, tomorrow the entire town will know about this kiss, including your father. What do you think it's going to happen when he knows about that?" I didn't even think of that. My father had never given any chance to my relationship with Ezra and he had even threatened him to call the police. He was the one who had done everything to send Ezra far away from me. I knew he was able to do what he had said.

"Mom, please, you have to talk to him to try to convince him, I don't want anything bad to happen to Ezra," I said, imploring.

She closed her eyes and sighed before sitting at her desk

"Aria, you know, I'm tired of this, between your brother's problems and your own troubles with the police, it's too much for me." She said. I couldn't help feeling hurt. Was it my fault if my brother had been depressive or if someone had tried to charge my friends and me of Alison's murder?

"Oh, so all our family problems are my fault? " I said, getting angry.

"I did not say that." My mom said.

"Yes, it's exactly what you said. Don't you think it's too much for me too? I care a lot about Mike and seeing him depressive this year made me really sad. And how do you think I feel with being accused of Alison's murder? She was one of my best friends; it makes me sick that people can think that the girls and I may have killed her," I said, raising my voice.

"Yes, Aria, I know you had a very traumatic year, honey, " my mom said.

"Yes, I had a horrible year. And do you know who was here for me all this time? Ezra. He has been here to comfort me, to listen to me and he helped me to make me feel better," I said, remembering the day when I had told him about Jenna or when he had helped me to deal with my father's affair.

"Mom, please, you have to understand, I love him, so much, you have to trust me." I said, looking at her in the eyes. I wanted to make her understand how much Ezra meant to me. I knew she thought it was just a teenager's fling, but it wasn't.

"And he loves me too, he really does," I added.

"Well, if he can risk everything for a kiss with you, so I guess he does, or he is stupid, probably both," she said.

"Look, I will talk to your father, I don't want him to find out by someone else and trust me he will, as soon as he leaves the house. But I can't promise you anything, you know your dad," she said.

I immediately felt a huge relief; it was so good to have my mom on my side.

"Thank you mom, thank you so much, it means a lot to me," I said by hugging her.

"I have to come back to the masquerade now. Do you want me to bring you home before?" My mom asked me.

I didn't know what to say. I wanted to see Ezra so badly and I had promised him to come over but I didn't want to lie to my mom anymore, especially now that she agreed to support me. So I chose to be bold.

"Actually Mom, I was wondering if you would be okay… if I go to see Ezra, I really need to see him, just a little bit." I asked, hesitantly.

"Really Aria? Don't you think you're asking me a little too much?" My mom said.

"I know Mom, but I really need to talk to him, please?" I begged her.

My mom sighed and I saw her glancing at her watch.

"It's ten past ten, I want you to be back here at midnight before the masquerade ends up, so we will come back home together. Don't be late! She told me.

"Thank you so much, Mom. I promise you I will be on time!" I said by running toward the exit, not wanting to lose any second of my time with Ezra.

I came back to the ball and try to find Spencer. I heard some girls whispered as I passed but it didn't bother me, I really didn't care of what people could think of me especially after all the troubles with the police that the girls and I had had. I was already a pariah so it didn't matter.

"Spencer, please, can I take your car? I need to see Ezra, don't worry I will be back before the end of the party," I asked her when I found her, speaking with Emily. Hanna was a few meters away from them, speaking with Mona and Lucas.

"Yes, sure, she said by taking her keys in her purse.

"What did your mom say?" Emily asked me.

"You don't mind if I tell you later, do you?" I asked them.

"Of course not. Go!" They told me, giggling at my impatience.

I grasped Spencer's keys, thanked my friends and got out of the masquerade as quick as possible.

* * *

Fifteen minutes later, I was in front of the apartment 3B. I knocked at the door and Ezra opened almost instantly. As soon as he opened the door I threw myself into his arms. He wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me.

"You came!" He whispered against my lips.

"Of course I did, " I said before bringing his mouth back to mine.

"I was scared that your mom doesn't let you go anywhere after what happened tonight," he told me, a few seconds later when we pulled apart.

"Well, actually, she has been pretty great, she knows I'm here, I told her I needed to talk to you and she allowed me to," I said.

"I'm glad you didn't have to lie to her," he told me, pressing his lips against mine.

"Well, actually I haven't been totally honest," I said as his lips began sliding down my neck.

"What do you mean?" He asked me, looking up at me, astonished.

"I mean, I didn't come _just_ to talk," I said, smirking.

Then he smiled and I knew he had understood exactly what I meant. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed me hungrily, pulling my jacket off. I opened my mouth a little wider as I felt his tongue on my bottom lip, asking for entrance. He put his tongue inside and our kisses became more and more hungry.

"I have missed you so much!" He whispered in my ear before kissing and sucking my neck, I groaned softy when his mouth sucked a very sensitive spot. Then his hands got down on my back and found the zipper on my dress as I was pulling off his shirt. He pulled my dress off which fell on the floor and I began to undo his belt, still kissing him.

Then I undid my bra while he was pushing down his pants. When we were freed from all our clothes I crossed my legs around his waist and he carried me up to the bed.

We fell on the bed, me above him. I kissed his chest and I reached his mouth for a hungry kiss as he put his hand through my hair. Then he switched our positions to be on top of me. He kissed my stomach and every part of my body up to my mouth. My senses were oversize; my skin was burning under his kisses.

"I love you," he tenderly whispered in my ear before kissing me again. These words made me shiver. I wrapped one of my legs around his waist, trying to make him understand that it was time. I wanted him now; I needed to feel him now. I had missed him so much; I needed to be as close to him as possible. He got the signal and reached over to grab a condom in his bedside table. We both groaned when he pushed himself inside me and he reached my hand to intertwine our fingers in a mess of skin as we dropped ourselves into an intense pleasure.

* * *

"I should go; I've promised my mom that I wouldn't be late," I said after having watched the clock on Ezra's nightstand.

We were both lying on his bed; my head on his chest, Ezra's arms around me and our legs intertwined under the sheets.

"Hum, I wish you could stay all the night," Ezra said.

Of course, it was what I wanted more than anything, after one month without seeing him and even talking to him, it wasn't enough , no matter how amazing had been the moment we had shared tonight.

"I know, me too. After all this time apart, I don't want to stay away from you," I said.

He sighed and pulled me even closer to him, kissing the top of my head.

"Aria, I'm so sorry I left you," he suddenly said, sadly. I could feel the pain in his voice.

"No, you don't have to be sorry; I agreed with this decision too," I told him. But I couldn't help remembering how upset and sad I had been the day he had told me that he was going to take the job. Maybe a tiny part of me was still angry with him for having left me.

"Yes, but I should have fought for you even if I was scared of your father," he said, kissing the top of my head.

"It's what you did tonight! I have to say that I wouldn't have imagined that at all," I said. "You know people are going to talk about us," I told him. My mom was right about that, it was Rosewood and I knew that in a few hours, everybody would know about Ezra and me.

"I know, this is Rosewood, but I don't care, I want to be with you no matter what," Ezra replied.

"And about my father, my mom told me she would talk to him about us," I said, remembering my conversation with my mom.

"Really? I hope he will come around. But Aria, whatever it will happen with your father, I promise you that I will never leave you again," Ezra said by gently kissing my forehead.

I was so glad to hear these words that the tears began to fill my eyes.

"But what are you going to do with your job?" I asked worried.

"Well, I will beg the dean to take me back and if he says no I will look for a job in another high school or even middle school near to Rosewood," he told me.

I didn't say anything but I was worried. After what happened tonight, everybody would know about him dating one of his former students. I wasn't naïve, even if I wasn't his student anymore I knew people would figure out that we had started this relationship while I was still his student, and something like that could ruin his reputation. I was scared that no school in the surroundings areas wants to hire him.

"Don't worry Aria, everything's gonna be alright," he told me, feeling my anxiety.

I sat up on my elbows and kissed him. He put his hands through my hair and returned my kiss passionately. After the amazing moment we had just had, I would have believed that I would have had enough but the desire took possession of me instantly. We were on the point to make love again when I broke apart. It was almost midnight and I didn't want to be late for the meeting with my mom.

"I have to go." I said before giving him a last kiss. I quickly dressed up, looked at me in the mirror to be sure that I didn't look like a girl who had spent almost two hours making love with her boyfriend and walked toward the door.

"I love you," Ezra said as I opened the door.

"I love you too," I told him before leaving.

Just as I was leaving his building, a big smile on my face, my phone rang. I took it from my purse, thinking that it was my mom, wondering what I was doing and my smile vanished when I read the text.

"**Looks like a little liar had a great time tonight. Kissing your teacher in front of everyone, it's so romantic! Too bad daddy wasn't there. But don't worry I took a photo for him. I'm sure he will be glad!**

**You're welcome**

**A**

* * *

**Thanks for reading and please tell me what you think.**

**XOXO**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter four **

**(Ella's POV)**

I woke up early the following morning. I hadn't gotten a lot of sleep, to be exact I had spent the entire night thinking of the evening, and what an evening!

I had been totally amazed when I had seen Ezra kissing my daughter in the middle of the dance floor, in front of everyone. The day Ezra had come to our house to tell us that he was in love with Aria, I had been very disappointed and angry. It was an inappropriate relationship, he was older than her and above all he had been her teacher. I couldn't believe he had used his power like this, as a teacher it was his responsibility to stop this relationship as soon as he had discovered that Aria was his student. I couldn't either believe that Aria had lied to us during months. So, like my husband, I had prevented her from seeing Ezra, but I had convinced him not to call the police because I knew that Aria's reputation would have been as much ruined as Ezra's, especially with the troubles with the police that she already had, and I also knew that she would have never forgiven us.

During a few weeks, everything had seemed to go back to normal, Aria seemed pretty happy and I thought that her relationship with Ezra was nothing more than a teenager's fling. But, one day, I had seen her crying in her bedroom; I had never seen her like this. When I had asked her why she was so upset she had told me that Ezra was leaving because Byron had plotted to send him in New Orleans. She was so sorrowful and especially angry with me and Byron that I'd understood how much she loved Ezra and that she had never stopped seeing him. I didn't want to lose my daughter so I had made a big step by coming to Ezra's apartment to talk to them to try to understand their relationship. But when Byron had learnt Ezra had still not given an answer for the job, he had knew that it was because of Aria and he had threatened him to call the police. I didn't know what had really happened next but Ezra had left the town.

Aria had tried to stay strong but I knew she felt really bad and every night I heard her crying. Last night, when Ezra had showed up at the masquerade, I had been very shocked, what they had done was crazy and irresponsible. But I had noticed how happy she was to see him and after all she had been through, she deserved to be happy, it's why I had promised her to talk to Byron. But it didn't mean that I was happy to see my daughter with her former English teacher who also was my former colleague. Which parents would be happy to see their daughter with an older man who had been her teacher? But despite my anger with Ezra, I knew he was sincere with Aria. Would he have kissed her in front of everyone, risking his reputation and his job if he wasn't? So, I had to do what I had promised to Aria and try to convince my husband even if I still had to convince myself.

"'Morning, Mom!" Aria said as she came in the kitchen, interrupting my thoughts.

"Good morning, sweetie," I said. I noticed the way she was looking at me; she seemed a little embarrassed and worried. She took a cup of coffee and sat down at the table.

"Where is Dad?" She asked me, worried.

"He is still asleep. I think he is still sick," I replied.

"So Mom, do you..." She hesitantly began in a low voice, after an award silence, "do you still agree to talk to dad about me and Ezra?" She asked me, surely worried that I changed my mind.

"Yes, I told you I will try, so I will," I told her, decided to keep my promise.

"Thank you so much," she said, relieved. I nodded and got up from the table to take another coffee, I really needed caffeine after the last evening and before what I had to do during the day.

"Did you receive any letter this morning?" Aria asked me, avoiding my look.

"A letter? Aria, it's hardly eight AM, why would I have received a letter so early?" I asked her astonished. I noticed the relief on her face when I told her that there wasn't any letter and I wondered why she seemed so afraid of a simple letter.

"Aria, why have you asked me that? Are you expecting a letter?" I asked her. She bit her lip and the relief turned into fear. I was on the point to ask her again when Mike went down the staircase.

"Aria, what the hell did you do last night?" Mike said when he saw his sister." Are you crazy? Everybody …" He interrupted himself when he noticed me on the corner of the kitchen.

"Mom, I didn't see you," he said embarrassed, looking at his sister.

"Aria, can I talk to you a minute? It's very important." Mike asked Aria.

I knew he had heard about last night and I guessed he didn't want her sister to get troubles so he preferred to talk to her alone. I loved the way my two children always tried to protect each other even if sometimes, I would have preferred them to come to me when something was wrong.

"It's okay Mike, mom knows, she was there last night," Aria said to her brother. I nodded when he looked at me, waiting for a confirmation.

"But, you, how do you know? Who told you?" Aria asked Mike, suspicious.

"_Facebook!_" He replied. "There is a video of you and Ezra, kissing on the dance floor."

"WHAT?" Aria said amazed.

I wasn't really astonished. I knew news like this one didn't take a long time to be public, especially when a teacher kissed his student in the middle of a room full of teenagers who never go somewhere without their iPhones.

"Oh my god! If Dad sees that…" Aria said taking her head in her hands.

"Have you ever seen dad on Facebook?" Mike said, giggling.

"There is not just that," Aria said, worried.

"What are you talking about?" I asked her, intrigued.

"Nothing! I'm just sure someone else was going to tell him," she strangely said.

"Someone else? Are you thinking of someone in particular?" I asked Aria. She looked down on the floor as if she was lost in her thoughts before saying, "No, mom, nobody in particular, I'm just sure he will know soon," she said, but I was certain she was lying.

"Look, Aria, go to school, I get it," I told her. I knew her day was going to be very difficult and I didn't want to make it worse.

* * *

A few minutes after Aria and Mike's leaving, Byron woke up.

"Do you feel better?" I asked my husband as he walked in the kitchen.

"Not really, I think I got flu. I will call Hollis; I can't go to work today," he said in a low voice.

" How was the masquerade? Did Aria have a good fun?" He asked me.

I didn't really know what to say_. Actually yes, she spent an amazing evening because the man she is in love with, who is also her former English teacher, the one you had sent away from her, showed up at the party and kissed her in front of the entire school. _But of course I found a more appropriate answer.

"Yes, I think so, she seemed pretty happy at the masquerade," I said. Technically it wasn't really a lie, Aria had been very happy yesterday night but of course the masquerade had nothing to do with her happiness.

"Look, Byron there is something we need to discuss…" I was interrupted by his cough which seemed pretty bad.

"Do you want me to go to the drugstore to buy you some drugs?" I asked him.

"No, don't worry; I don't want you to be late because of me," he replied.

"No, it's not a problem; I don't have any class to teach before 2pm," I told him. And to be honest anything which could delay the conversation that we were on the point to have, was a good thing for me.

"Okay, thank you. But what did you want to tell me?" He asked me as I was walking toward the door.

"Oh, it can wait until my return," I said almost relieved.

* * *

Ten minutes later, I parked my car in front of the dugstore. There were a lot of people inside when I got in. I was taking a drugs box for Byron when I heard a woman talking behind the shelf.

"_Yes it's true, in the middle of the dance floor, my daughter was there she saw them kissing in front of everyone."_ I heard the woman say and I knew immediately what she was talking about.

"_Really? What a shame! He was my daughter's teacher too and I thought he was a great teacher but during all this time he was sleeping with one of his students and only god knows how many others_." I heard another woman say.

"_But, you know, I'm sure he is not the only one we have to blame, this girl, the Montgomery's kid, I am sure she seduced him, after all she is one of the girls who are suspected of Alison Dilaurentis's murder." _A third woman said that I identified as Lucia Tournia, the wife of Byron's colleague.

"_Yes, badass seed," t_he first woman added.

"_And I heard that her father had an affair with one of his college students,_" Lucia said.

"_Like father, like daughter!_" The second woman said sarcastically and they all laughed loudly.

I felt hurt but especially angry. How dared they speak about my daughter like that? They had no rights to judge her. I could have stayed hidden behind the shelf but I didn't want them to win, I didn't want to be ashamed. I could handle a lot but I couldn't tolerate that people talk about my children like that. So I took a deep breath before walking toward them. As soon as they saw me, they stopped talking and casted their eyes down, embarrassed.

"Good morning, ladies," I said, smiling widely as I passed next to them.

"Good morning Ella," they all said in a low voice by avoiding my look. I paid for the drugs and then I did something I'm still not very proud of.

"Oh, Lucia, I was going to forget, how is George? Are his alcohol problems getting better? I asked her as I was on the point to leave. Byron had told me a few weeks ago that George, Lucia's husband, had been obligated to leave Hollis because of his alcohol problems.

I couldn't help but smile when Lucia's cheeks turned bright red and when I saw her friends looking at her, amazed. At least they would have another gossip to talk about than my daughter and her inappropriate relationship with her former English teacher.

I was on my way to home when I suddenly stopped and took another direction. Before talking to my husband, to try to convince him to let a chance to Aria and Ezra, I needed to be sure that it was the right thing to do, and there was only one way to be sure about this: I needed to talk to Ezra, alone.

* * *

I parked my car in front of Ezra's building, came inside and knocked on the apartment 3B. Two minutes later the door opened.

"Ella!" Ezra said, astonished when he saw me in front of him.

"Good morning Ezra, I know I'm not the Montgomery you expected to see, but can I come in? I need to talk to you," I said.

"Yes, of course," he said by letting me come in.

I noticed the many boxes on the floor; of course, he hadn't had time to tidy everything up since his return. I sat down on the couch without asking the permission, after all, had he asked me mine before dating my daughter?

"Do you want something to drink or eat?" He asked me.

"No thank you, I just want to talk to you," I said, coldly.

"Okay!" He said, before sitting in a chair in front of me.

I looked at him for a quick moment. He was wearing a simple jeans and a black T-shirt; I used to see him with his work clothes and with these simple clothes he seemed younger. I couldn't help noticing that he was very attractive and I understood why Aria had fallen for him. He seemed very nervous, waiting for me to speak so I decided to end up the torture.

"So, as my daughter has probably told you, I promised her that I would try to talk to my husband about the two of you." I began. "But before that, I need to be sure that it's the right thing to do. So I'm going to ask you something and I promise you that Aria will never know the answer, but I want you to be completely honest. Do you really love my daughter?" I asked him.

The answer came almost instantly.

"I do, Ella, I really do," He said. I looked at him and I could see that he was honest.

"But I need to understand. You are young and pretty attractive; I bet you can have any woman you want, so why are you risking everything for a high school student? "I asked Ezra. I really needed to know the answer. Not because I thought Aria wasn't good enough for him, not at all but I just needed to understand what kind of love it was.

"You know Ella, I'm not going to lie to you, since the day I met Aria, I have wished many times to never have fallen in love with her, I have wished I can forget about her and date another girl who wouldn't be my student, because it would have been so easier. And I tried, I tried very hard to stay away from her, I even left Rosewood a first time but I came back just like I did yesterday. Because even if this relationship is really complicated and risky, Aria is the one I want to be with and I can't stay away from her. So you ask me why? I don't even know where to start. When I'm with her I forget everything else. I love the way she never gives up on what she believes in, even if that seems lost and even if it means that she has to get angry, and god knows how frightening she is when she's angry. I just love being with her, spending time with her. So, yes, she is sixteen, I have been her teacher and maybe I shouldn't have continue this relationship but I don't regret anything because despite everything, she is the best thing that ever happened to me," Ezra said.

He suddenly seemed pretty embarrassed; of course it hadn't been easy for him to talk about his feelings in front of me. But I know he was sincere, I couldn't ignore the way he was talking about Aria. He seemed really in love with her, as much as she was. What could I do against that?

"Thank you for being so honest with me, Ezra. I think I got the answer I was looking for. I will talk to my husband," I said before leaving his apartment.

When I came back home, I knew I had to talk to Byron before he learns the new from someone else, if it would happen it would only make things worse. During all the way I had thought of the best way to tell him about Ezra and Aria but when I reached my house I still didn't know how I was going to do.

I opened the door and saw Byron in the living room siting on the couch. At his feet was a brown envelope and he had a photo in his hand which he was looking at with horror and anger.

* * *

**Yes, I know, no Ezria in this chapter but I thought it would be interesting to have a chapter from Ella's point of view. I hope you liked it. Please, let me know what you think about that. And as usual , sorry for my errors.**

**xoxo**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter five **

**Ella's POV**

"Byron?" I said, worried. He didn't even look up at me, still focused on the photo he was looking at.

"Byron? Is something wrong?" I insisted.

"Someone sent me that!" He said, showing me the photo. I joined him and looked at the photo. It was Aria and Ezra at the masquerade, kissing on the dance floor.

"Where did you get that?" I asked him.

"I told you, somebody sent me it," he said, looking at the envelope on the floor. I picked it up and read. There was no name on the back of the envelope but I found a little paper inside.

**For the family album**

**A**

I couldn't help but shiver when I saw the signature. It wasn't the first time we received a letter from this A. The first time was seven month ago when I had received a letter about Byron and Meredith and the second time, one month ago when Byron had found a note on his wind-shield. Suddenly, I remembered Aria's question this morning about a letter. It couldn't be a coincidence. She knew somebody was going to send this photo.

"Byron, did you see anybody leaving this letter?" I asked him.

"No and it doesn't matter. Did you see that?" He said angrily by showing me the photo.

"Yes, actually, it was what I wanted to talk about, this morning," I said, nervously.

"What do you mean? You knew that this jerk was back?" He asked me, raising his voice.

"Yes, I was at the masquerade, remember. Ezra showed up and … well, as you see, he kissed Aria," I said. At the beginning, I hadn't planned to tell him about the kiss but I didn't have a choice anymore, I couldn't lie now that he had seen the photo.

"I can't believe it!" Byron said, furious.

"Byron, look…" I tried to calm him down.

"I'm going to kill him! This time I call the police," he said angrily by walking toward the phone; he was beside himself with anger and I knew that I had to do something to stop him before it is too late.

"NO BYRON, you are not going to do that!" I yelled.

"What? And why would I not do that? He said.

"Because if you do, your daughter will never forgive you," I said. And I knew it was totally true. She would never forgive her father if he send Ezar to jail.

"But what am I supposed to do, Ella? Nothing, and let my sixteen years daughter dating her teacher?" He said.

"He is not her teacher anymore and you know it," I told him. Then he looked at me amazed, red with anger.

"So now, you're alright with this relationship? It doesn't bother you that your teenage daughter makes out with an older man who was her teacher and also our colleague? "He asked me.

"Of course it bothers me, and no, I'm not alright with this relationship but more than anything I want Aria to be happy, because I love her," I said.

"But I love her too, what do you think? It's because I love her that I want to protect her from this man," he said.

"Look, Byron, I know you think it's the best thing to do for her but it's not. Did you see how sad she was when he left? It's not just a teenager's fling, she does love him and despite the fact that I'm still angry with Ezra, I know he really loves her too," I said.

"He really loves her? Are you kidding me? He just took advantage of her; he deserves nothing but to be punished for what he did," my husband said.

When I had promised Aria that I would try to convince Byron, I knew it was going to be hard but at this moment, I wasn't sure that I could do it. Byron seemed to hate Ezra more than I had imagined.

"You're right, he shouldn't have begun this relationship, but he is young, he is twenty three not forty, they have only seven years of difference," I said.

"_Only_ seven years? It's already too much for a sixteen years old girl," he retorted.

"Well, it's less than the difference between you and Meredith," I said, angrily. He looked at me, shocked. I hadn't had the intention to put my husband's infidelity in the middle of the conversation but the words had just slipped my mouth.

"Have you ever wondered what Meredith's parents had could think of you and their daughter?" I asked him.

"Meredith was not a minor!" He said. But I knew my question bothered him.

"Maybe, but she was really young, she wasn't much older than Aria now and the difference between the two of you was important, you can't deny it, " I told him.

"I know it, okay! I made a mistake but I thought it was clear between us," he said, pissed.

"Yes, it is! Look, Byron, I don't want to talk again about this story, I'm over it, but I'm just trying to make you understand that it's very difficult to judge these kinds of relationships. And maybe we should make some efforts to try to understand Aria and Ezra," I said.

"I can't do that, Ella, you are asking me too much. It's our sixteen year old daughter we are talking about," he said trying to control his voice.

"But we don't have a choice. If we don't try, we are going to lose our daughter," I said. And I knew it was the truth.

Byron shook his head sat down on the couch and placed his head in his hands.

"Trust me Byron, this is hard for me too, I would prefer to see Aria with a boy of her age but she has chosen Ezra and maybe we should trust her judgment." I said by sitting next to him and putting a hand on his shoulder.

"But she is sixteen, she is still a child, she doesn't know what she's doing," he said, shaking his head.

"I think she knows exactly what she's doing and what she wants. We both know that Aria has always been more mature than the kids of her own age so I think we can trust her," I said.

"But him? How can we trust him? How can we be certain that he is not playing with her?" He asked me.

"Do you think he would risk his job and his reputation if he didn't love her? He came back for her even if he knew that we could call the police," I said looking at him.

Byron sighed and closed his eyes.

"I'm sorry Ella, I can't. I can't accept this relationship and I don't understand how you can. I won't call the police, I promise, but I don't want Aria to see him again." My husband said before getting up from the couch. If I didn't know it yet, now I knew where Aria's stubbornness came from.

* * *

**Aria's POV**

When I arrived in school the following morning I immediately knew that the day was going to be long. Everybody looked at me and whispered as I walked toward my locker.

"Good job, Aria. Mr. Fitz is so freaking hot!" A girl told me when she passed next to me.

"Slut!" I heard a group of four girls say when they passed.

I didn't even know those girls, how dared they insult me like this? But I shouldn't have been surprised, after all, the entire town had treated us, the girls and I, like pariahs after the night when Ian died.

"Hey Aria, are you okay?" The girls asked me when they joined me in front of the lockers.

"Yes, I guess, people haven't thrown me tomatoes yet," I said ,sarcastically.

"Don't worry, it's Rosewood, in couple of days, people will find another scoop to discuss about." Hanna said, trying to comfort me but I knew it wouldn't be so easy.

"What did your parents say?" Emily asked me.

"Well, my mom was pretty great, she said she would speak to my dad about Ezra and me to try to convince him but I haven't seen him this morning, so I don't know," I said.

"Well, it's great if your mom is on your side," Spencer said.

Suddenly, Shirley, a senior girl, interrupted us.

"Hello Aria! Sorry to interrupt, but I was wondering if you could give me Mr. Fitz's number, you know for some _private lessons,_" she said, smirking.

I clenched my teeth together, at this moment the only thing I wanted was to slap her in her face and I would have probably done it if Emily and Spencer hadn't prevented me from doing it.

"Aria, don't listen to her, she's an idiot!" Spencer told me.

"Oh, by the way, Shirley," Hanna told her as Shirley was leaving "I hope your MST is getting better," she said. Shirley looked around and saw that people were laughing, she looked at Hanna angrily and ashamed as her cheeks turned bright red and she ran toward the bathroom. The girls and I burst out laughing.

"Hanna, how do you know that?" I asked her, still laughing.

"Come on, I'm friend with Mona, I know all which takes place in this school," she said, smiling. I was still laughing when my phone buzzed. I took it in my pocket and I turned pale as I read the text.

**So Aria, do you love your new popularity? I hope you're happy, you were one of the girls who were suspected of Alison's murder but now, you don't have to share the popularity, you are the only slut of Rosewood**. **Enjoy!**

**A**

"Aria?" Spencer said when she noticed my expression.

"It's A. Again! He/she has already sent me one of his nice little texts yesterday," I said.

"Really? What did it say?" The girls asked me.

"It was about my kiss with Ezra. A said he/she had taken a photo for my dad. I hope my mom is going to talk to him before he sees the photo," I told them. I had thought of this text all the night, I was so scared that my father sees the photo before my mom can talk to him.

"I'm so sick of this bitch; he/she always does her best to make things worse," Hanna said.

"Guys, talking about A, I have something to tell you," Spencer said in a low voice. She looked around to make sure that nobody was listening to us.

"I heard Mellissa talking to someone this morning, I don't know who it was but she asked him to meet her in my lake house. And as soon as she saw me she hung up as if she didn't want me to hear what she was saying. I think we should go back to the lake house, to see if we find something," she said.

"Are you saying that Melissa could be A? I thought you didn't even want to think about this possibility," Emily said, astonished.

"Yes, but I'm not so sure anymore, it's my sister, I know, but we have to explore all the possibilities. Beside, I'm not saying she's A, I just want to know why she asked someone to meet her there," Spencer told us.

"Yes, you're right. We can go to your lake house tonight. Are you up, girls?" Hanna asked us.

"Yes, I am, except if my father locked me in my bedroom after my mom told him about Ezra being back," I said. I wondered if my mom had already talked to him about me and Ezra.

* * *

The rest of the day wasn't really better, I tried to ignore the nasty commentaries and the sniggers but it wasn't that easy. Even if I tried to persuade myself that I didn't care, a tiny part of me was hurt every time I heard people whisper about me or call me a _slut_. Fortunately, the girls were here. I was so glad to have friends like them. No matter if they had to deal with their own problems like Spencer with Toby and Emily with Maya, they always were here for me.

After school, I went straight to Ezra's apartment, I hadn't planned to see him but I really needed to.

"Hey!" He said by wrapping his arms around me when he opened the door. After the bad day I had had it felt so good to be in his arms.

"How are you?" He asked me when I came inside.

"I'm fine!" I lied, not wanting to complain in front of him.

"Are you sure?" Ezra asked me, furrowing his brows.

"Yeah, it just…" I began to say.

"People have been pretty hard on you, haven't they? Ezra said with a worried look. I nodded.

"Oh Aria, I'm so sorry," he said, caressing my cheek with his thumb.

"This isn't your fault, Ezra. And don't worry; it doesn't matter, the only thing I cared about is you, I'm so glad you're here," I said. Then I rose on tiptoe and pressed my lips against his.

"You know, your mom came to see me today," he said when we broke our embrace and sat down on the couch.

"Why?" I asked, astonished. My mom had never told me that she wanted to talk to Ezra.

"She wanted to be sure that I was truly sincere before talking to your dad," Ezra replied.

"So what did you say?" I asked intrigued.

"Well, I told her that you were the best thing that never happened to me," he said looking at me intensively.

"Really, am I?" I asked. I didn't expect him to say that, I knew he loved me but he had lost too much because of me and I couldn't help thinking that it would have be better for him if he hadn't met me.

"Of course you are. I know your relationship isn't easy and that we have to deal with a lot of problems but I don't regret anything. And I'm so grateful to have you in my life." Ezra told me.

I smiled at him as he replaced one of my lock behind my ear before pressing his lips against mine. I wrapped my arms around his neck and he pulled me closer, deepening the kiss.

"I think I should go, I need to see my mom, to ask her if she has talked to my dad," I said, breaking reluctantly our kiss.

"Or maybe you could stay a little bit more," Ezra said as his lips moved down to my neck. He placed open mouthed kisses along the side of my neck, sucking the most sensitive spots which made me shiver. Suddenly he stopped.

"Please don't stop," I said, my eyes still closed.

"I thought you had to go," he said, teasing me.

"I guess I changed my mind," I said before kissing him fervently.

* * *

We arrived at Spencer's lake house around seven. I was glad my mom had convinced my dad to let me go with the girls. When I had come back home from Ezra's apartment, my father was waiting for me and as soon as I had seen his furious face, I had known that my mom hadn't succeeded to convince him about me and Ezra. He had told me again that he didn't want me to see him; he had even refused when I'd said that I needed to see the girls, pretending that I was lying to see Ezra but my mom had insisted and he had complied. She had told him that I hadn't done anything wrong and that I didn't even know that Ezra was back so there was no reason to ground me. I was so angry with him; I couldn't understand how he could be so stubborn. He should be more comprehensive; after all he was the one who had had an affair with one of his students. My mom had told me to give him some time. But how long was I going to sneak around to see the man I loved? I was so tired of lying .

"Are you sure Melissa isn't here?" Emilie asked Spencer as we were walking toward the house.

"Yes, don't worry; she was at home when I left," Spencer said.

"Hum, Aria, I wouldn't do it if I were you," Spencer told me as I sat on the couch, once we were in the house.

"Why?" I asked surprised.

"Hum, someone did very naughty things on this couch," Spencer ironically said, looking at Hanna as I sprang to one's feet.

"Oh, come on, Spence! We are not going to talk about this again, are we? And Aria didn't warn me when I sat on Ezra's bed when we were in his apartment, and I'm sure they did more naughty things than Caleb and I on this couch!" Hanna said, causing my cheeks to turn bright red.

"Hum guys, I would love talking about who has done the more naughty things with her boyfriend all the evening but should I remind you why we're here? Emily said.

"Yes, Emily's right, we should begin to search," I said, happy to change the subject.

"Okay, so I think we should glance at the attic first, my family never goes there, if someone wants to hide something, it's the perfect place," Spencer said.

We followed her upstairs and came in the attic.

"We don't even know what we are looking for," Hanna complained.

"Anything suspect. Melissa asked someone to meet her here; I want to know why. There must be something in here," Spencer said.

We began to search apart to make the search easier but except some family photos and old toys, I didn't find anything.

"Guys, come here, I think I found something," Emilie suddenly said, holding a briefcase in her hands.

We joined her as she opened the briefcase. There were a lot of photo inside and there were all of Ali and us. Ali and we in front of her house, talking, Ali and we in high school, Ali and we at the café, Ali and we at the lake house where we went every summer. There even were some photos of us in Alison's room as if someone had taken them through the window. I was shocked, all the moments we thought we were alone someone was watching us, spying on us.

"God! Someone was spying on us during all this time!" Hanna said, shocked.

"Who could have done that? Do you think it's Melissa?" Emily said. We all looked at Spencer.

"Why would she do that? It doesn't make any sense," Spencer told us.

"Guys, don't you smell anything?" Emily suddenly asked us .

She was right, there was an odd smell in here, it was like…

All of a sudden your phones rang at the same time. I took mine from my pocket and read the text.

**Go rot in hell, bitches!**

**A**

"Oh my god the house is burning!" Spencer yelled, panicked as smoke began to fill the room.

"It's a trap !" Hanna screamed. "A trapped us!"

So it was that. A wanted us to die. It was what she/he had been waiting for since the beginning. A had tortured us during months to end up like that.

"We have to get out right now!" I screamed to the girls. We went down the stairs by running as fast as we could and went straight to the door

"Damn it, it's locked" Hanna said.

"Guys, we don't have the time," Emily said, panicked.

I turned over to see the flames which began to attack the walls. One half of the house was burning and the smoke was getting thick.

I suddenly glanced at the window, and, for a moment, I thought I saw a shadow, as if someone was watching us through the window but maybe it was just my imagination.

"Girls, follow me, there is another issue on the other side," Spencer said, running toward the other side of the house.

We rushed after her, trying to escape the flames. The smoke was so thick that I couldn't see the girls anymore, I could just hear them cough. All of a sudden my foot struck something and I fell on the floor. When I tried to get up I felt a horrible pain in my ankle. She was probably sprained or broken.

"Hurry up!" I heard Spencer yell. But her voice seemed really far away from me, now. I felt the panic taking possession of me. I couldn't get up, it hurt too much. I tried to call the girls for help but I couldn't even speak. The smoke had begun to invade my lungs and I felt the fire around me. I couldn't breathe. I couldn't breathe at all. I was trapped in here. I knew it was the end; I was not going to go out of this house alive. A had won. After all this months of torture, he/she was on the point to get what he/she had always wanted. What had we done to him/she to make him wish our deaths? Why did he hate us like that?

I thought of my parents, of Mike, of the girls, thanks god they were safe now! And I thought of Ezra. I would never see him again. I would never be able to tell him again how much I loved him. His face was the last thing I saw before closing my eyes and letting the darkness take me.

* * *

**First: thank you for your reviews:** **Princessjasmine12,** **HarrylovesGinny09 and sandra1992, it's really nice.**

**I hope you liked it. I don't know if I will be able to update before two weeks because I'm going on a trip next week but maybe I will update before I leave if I have the time. But please, tell me your thoughts.**

**xoxo**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter six**

**Ezra's POV**

I was in my apartment, drowsy on my couch, in front of the TV. But I wasn't really listening. I couldn't help thinking of the last night. It had been just amazing, perfect. She was so perfect. I had missed her so much that it had been so good to see her, to kiss her. Now, I knew that I couldn't live without her, I would never leave her again; it had been a terrible mistake to take the job in New Orleans, I should have known that I wouldn't be able to get over her. Of course, all our problems weren't resolved but I was hopeful, especially because Ellahad agreed to help us to convince Byron. I still didn't know if she had already talked to him but I would fight for Aria no matter what Byron could say or do.

I was pulled out of my thoughts by my phone ringing. I took my phone on the little table next to my couch and looked at the screen. It was from an unknown number. Maybe it was Aria; she used to call me from her friends' phones sometimes because she was afraid that her dad checks her phone bill.

"Yes?" I said, hoping to hear her voice.

"_Mr. Fitz?"_ A voice that wasn't Aria's answered.

"Yes, who is it?" I asked. The voice seemed familiar, I was sure I had already heard this voice.

"_It's Hanna Marin"._ Now I knew why the voice seemed so familiar. Hanna was one of my former students from Rosewood High, and especially, one of Aria's best friends.

"Hanna! Why are you calling me?" I asked her, intrigued. I was amazed, I had never given my phone number to my students, well expect to one very particular student, and I doubted that Aria had allowed Hanna to call me.

"_I'm sorry but I have to tell you something_." Her voice was strange as if she was crying. I suddenly got nervous.

"Yes, Hanna, what's going on?" I asked her.

"_I know I shouldn't call you but she would want you to know_." Now it was clear she was weeping, she didn't even try to control her voice.

_"You need to go to the hospital, Mr. Fitz, it's Aria, something bad happened and she is…"_ I was shocked. The words Aria, something bad and hospital couldn't be in the same sentence. No, it couldn't be true. Not her.

"She is what?" I asked Hanna, almost screaming the words.

"I just think you should come," Hanna said.

And I knew it was important, I knew something terrible had happened.

"_Mr. Fitz, are you still here?"_ Hanna asked on the other side of the phone.

"I'm on my way." I said before grabbing my keys and leaving my apartment without taking the time to close the door.

* * *

I parked my car in front of Rosewood Hospital and ran straight to the door. There were a lot of people waiting in the corridor. A couple with a child with a broken leg, an old woman, a pregnant lady but I couldn't see the girls and I didn't know where to go.

"Please, can you tell me where is Aria Montgomery? She has been admitted here tonight." I asked, breathless when I reached the receptionist's office.

"Are you a family member?" The old woman asked me.

"No, not exactly but she is… my girlfriend," I said. It was the first time that I referred to Aria as my girlfriend and I wished it could be in other circumstances.

The woman gave me a weird look. "I'm sorry but if you are not of the family I can't help you," she said. I was on the point to beg her when I saw Aria's friends. The three of them, Spencer, Emily and Hanna were standing in the corridor, crying. I proceeded toward them, hoping they were going to inform me but I wasn't sure I wanted to hear what they were on the point to tell me.

They all looked up at me when they saw me walking toward them.

"What happened? Where is Aria?" I asked them, nervously.

"There was a fire in my lake house and… we thought she was following us but … she was still inside," Spencer said, weeping.

"The firemen took her out of the house but she was unconscious," Emily added, sniffing.

"She is with the doctors right now," Hanna said.

"But she is going to be alright, right?" I asked them. There were no other possibilities, she needed to be alright. I saw the girls glanced at each other and I felt pit opening in my stomach.

"Girls?" I asked them with an alarming voice while the tears began to fill my eyes as I understood what their look meant.

"We don't know, the doctors said she had inhaled too much smoke!" Spencer said, tears flowing on her face.

No, no, it was impossible, it was a nightmare. It couldn't be happening.

"I need to see her, right now!" I said running over the blocks.

Then I saw them. Ella, Byron and Mike. Byron and Ella were sitting on chairs in the corridor, Ella had her head between her hands and Byron had his arm on her shoulder and the other on Mike's shoulder. I walked toward them, I wasn't afraid that Byron sees me, I didn't care, the only thing I cared about was Aria.

Byron was the first who saw me. He looked up at me and stood up immediately. I didn't know if Ella had talked to him about me and Aria but when I saw his expression I understood that if she had done it, it hadn't been a success.

"What are you doing here?" He asked me spitefully. Then Ella raised her head and looked at me, so did Mike.

"I'm here for Aria, I need to see her," I told him.

"No, you have nothing to do here; I want you to leave now!" Byron said, raising his voice.

"Dad!" I heard Mike say.

I didn't back away; instead I remained standing in front of him.

"I'm sorry, Mr. Montgomery, but I will not leave this hospital before I am sure Aria is alright," I told him, looking at him in the eyes. There was no way he can make me leave; I wasn't going to give up Aria especially when she needed me most.

"Listen to me, you leave or I call the police to tell them what you di…"

"BYRON, THAT'S ENOUGH NOW!" Ella shouted at her husband, interrupting him in the middle of his sentence. Byron looked at his wife who was now standing behind him, furious.

"But, Ella, he…" Byron began to say.

"Listen to me, our- daughter – is- fighting- for- her –life, right now, so it's not the time for this!" Ella told him by saying slowly every word. He was on the point to add something when we saw two doctors running over a block.

"Cardiac arrest, block 4!" A doctor said to his colleague as they passed next to us. I didn't know if it was Aria's block but I immediately got scared.

"NO!" Ella screamed all of a sudden and I knew it was Aria. I knew my nightmare was coming true. I ran as fast as possible after the doctors, followed by Ella, Byron and Mike.

"You can't stay here," a doctor told us before coming in the block. I mashed my face against the door to see through the glass. And I knew that I would never be able to forget what I saw then. She was here, lying on the table, totally immobile, her long black hair flowing around her. She just looked like a...No, not this word, I couldn't use this word, I couldn't even think of this word. She wasn't, she wasn't.

"Byron, take Mike away, now! I don't want him to see that," Ella told her husband.

"No, I want to stay." Mike implored.

"Byron, please! Take him away from here," Ella said, weeping. Byron took his son by his shoulders and led him toward the exit.

"_We are losing her!_" I heard the doctor say and these words froze my blood.

"NO! Not my daughter!" Ella screamed in tears, behind me, as we saw the doctors taking the defibrillator.

"_One, two, three" _They counted before using the defibrillator. Through the glass I saw Aria's petite body lifting up and, in that second, I felt like my heart was breaking.

"_Nothing, we try again!_" A doctor said.

_Come on Aria, come back, please, don't leave me. I can't lose you_. I prayed in my head.

Ella was next to me, in tears. I tried to grab her hand and she took it, squeezing it strongly.

"_One, two, three_". The doctors said again before the third shock.

"Please Aria, please don't give up!" This time I had said it in a loud voice and I felt Ella's hand squeezing mine harder.

"_Damn it"_ The doctor said. _"Come on, girl_"." Again!"

Then came another try and another again. But there was still nothing on the screen that the doctors looked at after each try.

"_One more time_" The doctor said.

Now the tears were flawing my face. This couldn't be true; I couldn't be here, watching the girl I loved dying. It was impossible, it was a nightmare. It couldn't be over; there were so many things I needed to tell her, so many things I had never told her. Like, if the first time she had told me that she loved me I hadn't said it back, it wasn't because I didn't feel the same way , it was because I was scared of my own feelings. I needed to tell her that the first time I had known for sure that I was irrevocably in love with her, was when she had come to me, one night, when everything was falling apart with her family because of her father's infidelity. Seeing her so devastated and broken was a torture and, at this instant, I had understood that I was in love with her and that I could have done anything just to see her smiling. I had never told her all this things, by reserve, I guess, sometimes it's hard to express your true feelings. I just hoped I could have the chance to tell her, I just hoped it wasn't too late.

The doctors tried a last time, causing her little body to lift up once again. I looked at the screen, praying to see the green little line moving but nothing, nothing at all. It was over. She was gone. Aria was gone.

* * *

**Aria's POV**

It was strange, I felt nothing. The pain had gone and I could breathe again. Slowly, I opened my eyes and the light dazzled me. I was in a bed, a hospital bed, I guessed. I moved my ankle, she seemed fine, it wasn't painful anymore; maybe she wasn't broken after all. But everything seemed odd I didn't know why but I could feel it, something was wrong, something had changed. I straightened up, glanced around me and that it when I saw her. She was on the left corner of the room, sitting on an arm- chair next to my bed and she was smiling to me.

I couldn't believe my eyes, it was impossible, it couldn't be her. But these long blond hair, these blue eyes and this smile, it couldn't be someone else. I hadn't seen her since two years, since the night that had changed my life forever but I knew it was her without any doubts.

"Hello Aria," she said, smiling tenderly. Hearing her voice was a shock, I would never have thought that I would be able to hear her voice again.

"Alison, what…, what are you doing here? This couldn't be true!" I said amazed.

"Why?" she asked me.

"Because, you… you're supposed to be… dead," I replied hesitantly.

Then she looked at me sadly and the reality came to my mind. If she was here it didn't mean that she was alive, it meant that I was dead. It was the reason I felt nothing, I was dead.

"I am dead, right?" I asked my friend.

"Do you think you are?" She asked me. I looked at her totally confused. I couldn't remember anything. The last thing I remembered was the smoke that prevented me from breathing, then nothing.

"I don't know, I can't remember anything," I told her. "But, if I can see you, so I guess I am."

"Things are not always what they seem," she replied in a low murmur.

"Ali, what happened that night? I mean, the night when you… died?" I asked her. After two years I needed some answers. I needed to know what had really happened that night. She looked away a few seconds and I perceived the sadness in her eyes when I met her look again.

"Please Alison; I need to know, why Garrett did this to you?" I asked her. Garrett had been arrested and charged of Alison's murder but we still didn't know why he had killed her.

"Garret?" Alison frowned. "I told you, Aria; things are not always what they seem." I was totally amazed by her reaction.

"What are you saying? Garrett is not the one who did this to you? So who is it? Please, Ali, you have to tell me the truth," I asked pleadingly.

"Some things are better left unsaid," she said, sadly.

"Is A the one who killed you?" I asked her, looking at her intensely.

This time I saw the amusement in her eyes. "This snake is smart but not enough to have killed me," she said.

"Do you know who A is?" If I needed to know who had killed Alison, I also needed to know who had killed me.

She looked up at me and smiled softy. "Of course I do so do you," she told me.

"What? No I don't know who A is," I replied. And it was true I hadn't any idea who this snake was.

"Yes, you do, Aria. You saw A tonight and you know it; you saw A through the window. Just focus, remember what happened tonight and you will remember the truth." She said.

I closed my eyes and tried to remember the evening. I remembered the photos we had found, the text from A: **Go rot in hell, bitches**. Then I remembered the smoke that had begun to full the house. We had begun to run toward the door but I had fallen and I remembered the pain in my ankle that had prevented me from walking. I remembered the smoke and my incapacity to breathe. But after that, it was the darkness, only the darkness.

"I'm sorry Ali, I can't remember anything about A," I said to my friend.

"You will, I promise you, when you are ready to handle it, you will know and everything will make sense, everything, I swear to you," she replied.

"But Alison, what are you talking about? I'm dead, it's over, A has won, and the one who k… did this to you has won too," I said.I couldn't pronounce the word "kill" in a loud voice, not when she was in front of me, it was too painful.

"You're right, I will never be able to punish them for what they did but you, you can, there is still a chance for you," she told me.

"What do you mean?" I asked her, totally astounding.

"I mean that you still have the choice. You can come with me or come back to life; it's your call," she said.

I was totally astonished. Did I really have the choice? I didn't understand how I could be dead and not dead at the same time.

"Aria, look, you have to make a choice, you don't have much time. What do you really want?" Alison asked me.

I looked away a few seconds. A tiny part of me was wondering what it could be if everything could draw to an end. I was so tired of A's torture, since Ali had disappeared everything had changed; everything had turned into a nightmare. But at the same time there was one thing I couldn't forget: I had met Ezra.

"I want to come back to life," I said with conviction.

"I think you're making the good choice," she said, smiling.

"But how can I do that?" I asked her.

"You have to focus on something very important for you, something which can be stronger than the death. It's not going to be easy, Aria, a lot of pain, but I know you can do it," she said.

"But Ali, I can't leave you here," I said to my friend. I had missed her so much during the almost past two years. She hadn't been the perfect friend, I was aware that she had done very horrible things to a lot of people, including us, but I couldn't help but love her. She had always had this thing, I didn't know exactly what, which made me totally fascinated by her no matter what she could say or do. I knew I would always love her no matter what.

"I told you Aria, it's too late for me, but there is still something you can do for me," she said.

"What?" I asked her.

"Do justice!" She said, looking at me in the eyes. There was nothing I wanted more than that.

"Don't worry; we won't stop until the person who did this to you pays, I promise you, Alison." I told her, determinate.

"Don't forget A, you have to pull this snake down," she said.

"There is nothing I want more." I said, thinking of the nightmare A had put us into. Then she got up, walked toward the bed and wrapped her arms around me.

It felt so weird, I didn't know what I had expected but she seemed so real and she still smelt the same perfume, this mix between the roses and the woods.

"Come on Aria, it's time to leave." She whispered by broking our embrace. I saw the tears filling her eyes as I looked at her.

"What am I supposed to do now?" I asked her, confused.

"Just focus on what you really want," she said, slowly.

"Goodbye, Alison." I said, looking at her, trying to contain the tears which threatened me to roll down my face.

"Goodbye, Aria. And don't ever forget, things are not always what they seem." She said with a strange expression before smiling to me tenderly.

I smiled back, looked at her a last time and closed my eyes.

_"Think about something important for you, stronger than the death"_, I repeated to myself. Suddenly, Ezra's face came to my mind. I remembered the first time I had seen him in this bar, our first kiss, our first real date, the first time he had told me that he was in love with me, the day when we had told my parents about us, our amazing kiss in the rain, our first night together, the masquerade and last night which had been one of the best nights of my all life, and suddenly I felt a horrible shock in my chest and everything became dark.

* * *

**So guys, thank you so much for your reviews, I love to hear from you. I hope you liked this chapter, I don't know if the Alison part was a good idea but in the show Aria is the only one who has never seen Alison so I wanted to write this. I'm sorry for my errors. Please tell me what you think. I will update in two weeks when I come back.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Thank you for all your reviews, it's really nice, I really appreciate all of them.**

_**Nabrenda 12:**_** I'm sorry I can't give any clues for now, but I promise, you will know who A is and who killed Alison by the end of this story****. **

* * *

**Chapter Seven**

**Ezra's POV**

"_God, she's coming back!"_ The doctor yelled. I looked at the screen and I saw the tiny line that was still flat one second before, begin to move.

"Ella, she's coming back," I said to Ella who was on the floor, weeping, totally devastated.

Suddenly a nurse came from the block and addressed us, "I'm sorry but you have to leave right now," she told us.

"But, this is my daughter," Ella succeeded to say between her tears.

"I know, but the doctors are taking care of her," the nurse told her. "A doctor will come to talk to you, but now, I'm sorry but you can't stay here," she said, looking at us with a look that indicated us that any negotiation would be possible.

I helped Ella to stand up and we walked together toward the exit.

"Mr. and Mrs. Montgomery?" A doctor called, shattering the silence of the waiting room.

We were waiting for one hour. After the nurse had asked us to leave; Ella and I had come back to the waiting room with Byron, mike and Aria's friends. I was still shocked. This picture of Aria lying on the table almost dead or … dead was still in my mind and I knew it would never go away. During a few seconds I had really thought that I had lost her. Ella seemed to feel the same. She was sitting next to Byron, staring vacantly into space, and she hadn't said a single word since one hour. Byron had an arm around her shoulder and the other on Mike's. Emily and Spencer were sitting together and Hanna was with her mother, Ashley, who had come as soon as she had learnt the new.

When I saw the doctor I got immediately nervous.

"Yes?" Byron said by standing up with Ella, imitated by everyone in the room.

"How is my daughter?" Ella interrogated the doctor.

"Your daughter had a cardiac arrest, it was hard but we managed to resuscitate her, she is stable now," the doctors said, causing me to heave a sigh of relief.

"But she is still in a coma and…" The doctor began to explain.

"How long? How long is she going to be in a coma?" Byron asked the doctor by interrupting her.

When I saw the doctor's face I wasn't sure that I wanted to know the answer.

"We don't know, sometimes the patient wake up in the next few hours or in the next few days, sometimes it takes weeks and sometimes…"

"Never!" Ella said, finishing the doctor's sentence. I looked at her. I knew she was right, sometimes people never woke up but Aria couldn't be one of them, she had to wake up, this thing couldn't happen to her.

"As I said, we don't know but we have to stay positive, it's really important for Aria, you have to keep hope alive!" The doctor said, looking at everyone.

"Can we see her?" Ella asked.

"Yes, of course, it's important for her to have the people she loves with her, just because she is in a coma, doesn't mean she is not able to hear you. But only a few people at a time, just the family for now," the doctor said.

"You should go home to sleep a little bit; I promise you I will call you if anything happens," Byron told us, or, to be exact, the first three words were directed to everyone and the rest only to Ashley and Aria's friends.

"Okay, Byron, I'm taking the girls with me! Spencer, you come with me too, your parents are still on the road and I don't want you to be alone," Ashley Marin said to Spencer before asking me, "Mr. Fitz, do you need a ride?"

"Thank you, Mrs. Marin, but I stay here," I told her. I couldn't leave while I didn't even know if Aria was going to wake up one day. I saw the hatred in Byron's eyes when I met his gaze. He had probably expected me to leave. I didn't know if Ashley knew all about me and Aria but she didn't seem surprised by my answer; she nodded, gave me a smile and left the room followed by Emily, Hanna and Spencer.

Then Ella, Byron and Mike left the waiting room and followed the doctor up to Aria's room. I wanted to see her more than anything but I knew I couldn't for now, I wasn't a member of her family and Byron wouldn't have let me to see her.

I spent all the night in the waiting room while Aria's family was in her room, with her. Around six o'clock I saw them leaving the room. Mike went toward the coffee machine while his parents stayed in front of Aria's room.

"You should go home with Mike, he needs to sleep." I heard Byron sayi to his wife.

"No, I want to stay with Aria, but you're right, Mike needs to sleep, so you go back home with him and you can come back here this afternoon," Ella said.

Byron seemed to hesitate but after a few seconds he said, "Fine, but call me if anything happens and …." Suddenly he spoke in a low voice so I couldn't hear him anymore but I saw them looking at me. He was probably talking about me, asking Ella to prevent me from seeing Aria. She nodded, kissed Mike on his forehead and said goodbye to them. As soon as they left she came back in Aria's room and closed the door.

I wanted to see Aria so badly but I didn't want to disturb Ella in this moment. She was traumatized and I didn't want to impose myself.

One hour later Ella got out of the room, talking on the phone.

"Yes, mother", she said.

She was probably talking to Aria's grandmother. Aria often talked about her, she liked her very much.

"No, she is still in a coma, mother, just a minute I have to get out; we are not authorized to use the phone here." Ella added on the phone.

Then I saw her walking toward the exit. Aria was now alone, without any hesitation I left the waiting room and walked toward her room. I opened the door and penetrated into the room.

She was here, lying on the bed. I got closer and sat down on the chair next to her bed. She seemed so peaceful as if she was just sleeping and not fighting for her life. I would have given anything to see her opening her beautiful hazels eyes, these same eyes that I had fallen in love with the first time I had seen her, in this college bar. I couldn't imagine that I would never be able to see her smiling or to hear her laughing again. It was just impossible, she had to wake up. I delicately took her hand in mine and caressed her cheek gently with my thumb.

"Hey Aria, it's me, Ezra," I whispered. The doctors had told us that she could hear us even if she was in a coma; I did hope it was true.

"You have to wake up, sweetheart. I know it's difficult but if there is one person who can do it, it's you. Because you're the strongest person I have ever met. It's one of the many things I love in you. You never give up. You have never given up on us even when I thought that there was not hope anymore. So, please, wake up. You have to live Aria, to have a beautiful life with me or not but I know you can have all you have always dreamed of, because you have everything for that. You are smart, talented, nice, funny and incredibly beautiful. Aria, I love you so much, you can't even imagine how much. So please, don't give up." I told her, while tears I had contained now fall down my face.

Suddenly I heard a noise behind me; I turned over to find Ella. She was standing in the doorway, looking at me. I didn't know if she had heard what I had said to Aria but I saw a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Ella, I'm …" I was on the point to say something when I felt Aria's hand, that I was still holding, moving. I looked at her immediately.

"Oh my god! " I said.

"What? What's going on?" Ella asked, worried, taking a step toward the bed.

"She has moved her hand," I told her, my eyes still on Aria.

"Aria, are you awake?" I asked, squeezing her hand, waiting for the tiniest move. But she didn't move at all and I wondered if I had dreamed.

"Aria, sweetie, do you hear me?" Ella asked her daughter. I saw the disappointment on her face as Aria didn't make any move. She looked so exhausted and devastated that I felt so bad for having given her a false hope.

"Ella, I'm sorry, I thought her hand had moved but I was wrong, I'm truly sorry," I told her.

"Ezra, I think you…" Ella began to say.

"With… you," a little voice interrupted us. We immediately looked at Aria at the same time. Had she really spoken?

"Aria, did you speak? What did you say?" I asked her, hoping she was going to answer me. Both of us, Ella and I, were looking at Aria who had still her eyes closed, waiting for an answer. My heart was racing hotfoot.

_Please wake up_. I prayed in my head.

"With you, I want a beautiful life but only with you!" Aria said in a low voice by slowly opening her eyes . So she had heard me. The tears filled my eyes and I gave her a peck on her cheek.

"Oh thanks god! Aria, sweetie, you're awake," Ella said, kissing her daughter on her forehead.

"We were so scared. I have to call your father!" She said before leaving the room to call her husband.

I smiled to Aria and caressed her cheek with my thumb.

"Can you… water?" Aria tried to ask me with a husky voice. I got up and filled a glass of water for her. She straightened up and I helped her to drink.

"Thank you," she said once the glass was empty.

"Don't ever do that again, I thought I was going to lose you," I told her as the image of her petite body on the chirurgical table came to my mind.

"You saved me!" She said with a smile.

"What? No, the firemen and the doctors did," I told her, amazed.

"I know, but I was almost dead and I thought of you and then I woke up. So you saved me," she said, smiling. I smiled at her gently even if I knew she was probably too confused to be rational.

"How did you know I was in the hospital?" She asked me.

"Hanna called me; remember me to thank her for that. As soon as she called me I went straight to the hospital; the receptionist didn't want to inform me even when I told her that you were my girlfriend, fortunately your friends were here to help me," I replied.

"You told her that I was your girlfriend?" Aria asked me, her eyes wide open.

"Yes, it's what you are, isn't it?" I replied.

"Yes, but it feels strange, it's the first time I hear you saying that," she said.

"It feels strange but it also feels good," I told her, smiling. She smiled too before her face turns into a worried expression.

"But my father, he was probably here, he saw you, didn't he? What did he say?" She asked me, getting suddenly worried.

"Well, he wasn't very happy to see me, he wanted me to leave but I told him I wouldn't go anywhere until I'm sure that you are alright," I told her.

"Did you really say that to my father?" She asked me as if it was hard to believe that I could confront her father.

"Of course I did. There was no way I could leave while you were fighting for your life," I said.

"Thank you, thank you for having stayed, and thank you for being here right now," she said, looking at me tenderly.

"I told you, _I can't stay away from you_," I said, remembering the words I had told her when I had surprised her at the masquerade ball.

Then I gave her a soft kiss on her lips which was interrupted when Ella stepped in the room. I immediately pulled back but I knew she had seen me kissing her daughter. Ella was agreed with my relationship with Aria but I felt quick uncomfortable to kiss Aria in front of her mother.

"Your father and Mike are on their way," Ella told Aria. Suddenly Aria's doctor came in the room.

"Hello, Miss Montgomery, you know that you scared us, right?" She said with a smile." How are you feeling?"

"Pretty fine, but I have throat hurts," Aria said to the doctor.

"Okay, we're going to take a look. I'm sorry but you have to leave a few minutes; I need to sound Aria, make sure that everything is okay," the doctor said to Ella and me.

"But, Ezra, you'll be back won't you?" Aria asked me, worried. I didn't know what to say. Byron would be here soon and would ask me to leave. But before I could reply Ella answered the question.

"Yes, honey, don't worry, he will be back soon, I will make sure of it personally. We are going to the wait in the corridor." She reassured her daughter.

Aria smiled at me and I left the room with Ella.

* * *

**Aria's POV**

"How are you? " Emily asked me, worried. The girls had come to see me as soon as my mom had called them to inform them that I was awake. After my check up with the doctor, Ezra had come back to say goodbye and he had promised me to come back the next day, no matter what my father could say.

"I'm fine, the doctor assured me that everything was going to be okay and that my ankle wasn't broken, just sprained," I replied.

"We're so glad you're alright, I can't believe this happened!" Hanna said, shaking her head.

"Yes, I know," I said.

"The police asked us a few questions; they wanted to know what happened in the house," Spencer told me.

"What did you say? I asked, anxious.

"Nothing, we just said that we were in the attic when we had smelt the smoke and we believed that you were following us when you were still inside and…" Spencer stopped when she saw me casting down my look. As she spoke, I had remembered the smoke and how I was trapped in the house and I began to feel nauseous.

"Aria, we really are sorry, we should have been more careful," Spencer said as I saw the tears began to fill her eyes.

"No, it wasn't your fault, guys; I don't want you to feel guilty about that!" I told them, trying to comfort them. "If there is someone who should take the blame is A! She/he is the one who has set fire to the house," I said.

"I can't believe A did that," Emily said.

"I'm not that surprised, after all, A tried to kill me too," Hanna intervened.

"What did the police say? Did they find something in the house?" I asked.

"They think it was some hooligans who didn't even know that we were inside," Spencer told me.

"Of course, A is too smart to have let any clue which could incriminate him," Emily said.

_This snake is smart but not enough to have killed me. _Alison's words resounded in my head.

"Guys, there is something I need to tell you. I know it's kind of weird but I….I saw Alison!" I said, glaring at them.

"What?" They all said at the same time.

"When I was unconscious, I saw her, she was here, in front of me and she told me something," I said, hesitantly, I didn't want them to think I was crazy. Strangely they didn't seem very surprised.

"What kind of things?" Hanna asked me, furrowing her brows.

"She told me that Garrett hadn't killed her, A either," I said. They glanced at each other.

"I know you think I'm losing my mind but…." I tried to explain.

"No, Aria, it's not what we think, I saw Alison too when I was unconscious, the night we were looking for DR Sullivan," Emily said.

"So did Hanna and me," Spencer added.

"We all saw her but …. Maybe it was just dreams," Hanna told me.

"I know, I was unconscious but it seemed so real, I even smelt her perfume. I can't explain it, girls, but I can feel in the bottom of my heart that it's true. Garrett didn't kill her!" I said, convinced.

"If you're right, so it means that…" Spencer began to say.

"It means that Ali's killer is still free!" Hanna finished Spencer's sentence as we all shared a scary glance.

A knock at the door put an end to our scary conversation.

"Yes?" I said, watching the door. A nurse holding a beautiful nosegay came in the room.

"Flowers for you, Miss Montgomery," the nurse said, smiling widely. She put the flowers on the little table next to my bed and left the room.

"Hum, Ezra is really a gentleman," Emily said, smiling. I smiled back and took the little note attached to the flower, impatient to read it.

"Aria, is everything okay?" Spencer asked me when she watched me turning white as I was reading the note. Without saying a word I lifted the paper to let the girls read it.

**I have to make you some excuses, Aria. I'm sorry, I had had a bad day and I lost my temper.**

**I hope you don't mind, we've always got along like a **_**house on fire**_**, (Without playing upon words), I don't want that to change.**

**Good recovery**

**A**


	8. Chapter 8

**Thank you so much for your reviews ****YaleAce, bite-me-im-irish and HarrylovesGinny09**** .**

* * *

**Chapter eight**

**One week later**

_**Aria's POV**_

"So honey, how does it feel to finally be back?" My mom asked me while I finished unpacking in my room.

I had stayed in the hospital during one week; the doctors wanted me to stay a bit to make sure everything was all right. I was recovering quickly; my ankle was still a little bit painful but, according to the doctors, it would be fine in a couple of days and, for now, I just suffered from a little limp. The worse part wasn't my body but my head. Every time I fell asleep, I woke up with the sensation that I couldn't breathe and that I was burning.

Ezra had come to see me every day in the hospital, bringing me books and flowers even if he had to deal with my father's furiousness every time that he saw him with me. If it had been up to him, my father would have kicked Ezra out of the hospital but fortunately my mom had prevented him from doing that. My dad had complied and had let Ezra see me but he was still on the warpath every time he saw him.

I had been touched by all the kindness I had received .The girls had come to see me every day to bring me my homework and I also received a visit from Holden, Mona, Caleb and Lucas. The police had questioned me about the "accident"; I had given them the same version than the girls: I didn't know what had happened. For them, it was just some kids who wanted to make a joke, nothing more. They were so far away from the truth. During the week I had thought of my dream of Alison over and over again. I was aware that it seemed unbelievable and totally crazy but I knew it wasn't just a dream, I knew Alison had wanted to tell me something and I was determined to keep the promise I'd made to her: I wouldn't stop until A and the one who killed her are punished. No matter what I would have to do for that.

"It feels amazing, mom, I was getting sick of the hospital food, I'm missing yours!" I told my mom as the doorbell rang.

"I get it!" My mom said before leaving my room to answer the door.

"Aria, sweetie, your friends are here." I heard my mom from the living room. Five seconds later, Spencer, Emily and Hanna were in front of my door.

"Hey, welcome home!" They told me before hugging me one by one.

"Thanks, girls, I'm so glad to see you," I said, smiling.

"So, how are you? Is everything okay?" Emily asked me.

"Yes, everything's fine, my ankle still hurts but it should be fine soon," I replied.

"And you, what's up?" I asked them. My question could have been simple, I could have wanted to know how things was going at school but, in my case, the only thing I needed to know was if my friends had received some news from our harasser. They all glanced at each other and I closed my door to make sure nobody could hear us. We sat down on my bed and Spencer began to speak.

"While you were in the hospital, I looked at the photos we found in the house; fortunately I succeeded to keep the briefcase. Melissa couldn't have taken them. Some of the photos have been taken the summer before Ali's disappearance and during this summer Melissa was on a trip with her college friends," Spencer informed us.

"So maybe it's Garrett," Hanna said. Even if I was now sure that Garret hadn't killed Ali, the girls weren't on the same page. They didn't really believe that my conversation with Alison could mean anything, for them it was just a dream.

"It's what I thought too but when I looked in Melissa's albums photos to make sure she was on a trip this summer, I noticed Garrett was on the trip too, " Spencer added.

"So, Melissa and Garrett are out of the list," I said.

"But if Melissa has nothing to do with that so what did she do in the house and who did she meet?" Hanna asked Spencer, suspicious.

"I asked her, the day after the fire, I practically accused her of being responsible, she told me she had asked Garrett's attorney to meet her in the house, to discuss the case. She wants to get him out of jail. I know it weird but I believe her," Spencer told us.

"But if it's neither Melissa nor Garrett, so who hid these photos in the house?" Emily asked.

"It's crazy, who has the keys of your house except Melissa and your parents?" I asked Spencer.

"I do not know, but I don't think somebody else has them," Spencer replied. I saw Hanna glancing at us as if she was trying to tell us something.

"So maybe we should focus on the people who have the keys," Hanna said.

"I told you, Melissa didn't take these photos, Hanna," Spencer retorted.

"I wasn't talking about Melissa but …." Hanna began to say, hesitantly.

"But what?" Spencer asked, furrowing her brows.

"I don't know, maybe your father..." Hanna confessed.

"Oh, I see! Accusing my sister wasn't enough, now you are accusing my father. Do you think he is A, or worse, are you saying that he killed Ali? Is it what you're trying to say?" Spencer got angry.

"You are the one who confessed that you thought Alison had blackmailed your father." Hanna tried to justify herself.

"But I was wrong, my father would never do that, Jason is his son, do you really think he could have killed his son's sister?" Spencer snapped at Hanna.

"Guys, calm down", I tried to appease them." We have to think of this quietly."

I could understand Spencer's furiousness, if someone accused a member of my family of being my best friend's murderer, my reaction wouldn't be different from Spencer's.

* * *

The day passed quickly, the girls left in the middle of the afternoon, after having decided to take things one by one. By the end of the afternoon, I suddenly felt the urge to see Ezra. He had texted me twice, to make sure I was all right and we had planned to see each other tomorrow but I couldn't wait to see him.

"Mom, would you mind if I went somewhere, like now?" I asked her.

"Where?" She asked me, furrowing her brow. I merely smiled.

"Oh I see, you want to see Ezra, don't you?" She said.

"Yes, please, I need to return the books he lent me when I was in the hospital," I pleaded.

"Hum, really? He absolutely needs them right now?" She said with a grin that indicated me she didn't buy it.

"Mom, please?" I begged her.

"Aria you have been released from hospital only this morning, you need to rest, you know what the doctors said," my mom tried to dissuade me.

"Oh come on, I have been stuck in a bed during one week, it's enough! Please, Mom?" I asked her, pleadingly with my puppy dog look. She exhaled sharply before saying what I wanted to hear.

"Okay, fine. You can go but I'm going to drive you, I don't want you to walk with your ankle," she told me before grabbing her car keys.

* * *

"Hey! What are you doing here?" Ezra asked me, astonished when he found me in front of his door. "I thought you were going to stay at home today."

"Yes, but I convinced my mom to let me come for a little while," I said, smiling widely.

Then he slowly took me by the arm and led me inside before closing the door behind us. He gently brushed his thumb along my cheek, replaced a lock of my hair behind my ear and looked at me intensely before pressing his lips against mine. His tongue slowly traced my bottom lip, asking for entrance as he pulled me closer. It was the first real kiss we shared since the fire and I felt my whole body shivering at his contact. It was different from all the kisses we had had before. He kissed me as if it was the first and the last time that he was doing it. After long minutes we tore our self apart_,_ breathless and he pressed his forehead against mine.

"I love you so much, I don't know what I would do if I lost you," he murmured.

"It's not going to happen." I replied pulling him into another kiss.

Then we decided to watch a movie. While Ezra was putting the DVD in the player, I noticed that all his stuffs had been unpacked. The apartment was now like I used to see it, cozy and homey. Seeing his place like that made me happy, it was true, Ezra was going to stay. I sat down on the couch and he joined me, wrapping his arms around me and letting me put my head on his chest. We watched the movie in each other's arms as Ezra caressed my hairs, kissing me on the head from time to time. It felt so good being in his arms after having thought that I would never see him again. Even if my whole life was going to be a disaster, I wouldn't change my choice to come back to life just to live this moment.

"Wake up, sleepy girl." Ezra whispered in my ear. I slowly opened my eyes and Ezra gave me a peck on my lips as I realized that I had fallen asleep during the movie.

"What time is it?" I asked him.

"Nearly seven o'clock," he replied, glancing at his watch.

"Why didn't you wake me up?" I asked him.

"Because I love watching you sleep," he tenderly replied as I straightened up to kiss him. We both jumped when we heard the thunder. Ezra got up from the couch and half-opened the curtain.

"God, it's raining cats and dogs outside," he said.

"Why are you smiling like that?" He asked when he noticed my glowing smile.

"Because, it means that I have an excuse to spend the night here," I said, smirking.

"Aria, you're sure? Your mother just begins to accept our relationship; I don't want to give her a reason to change her mind." He worried. "Plus, there is no way your father accepts that you spend the night with me."

"He doesn't need to know it, what he doesn't know can't hurt him. Let me call my mom," I said before taking my phone in my purse.

"I think you're going to have some company tonight, Mr. Fitz," I said, teasing him, when I hung up.

As I'd expected, my mom had given me the authorization to stay at Ezra's apartment when she had noticed the weather. She had agreed to tell my dad I was staying at Hanna's for the night. Before hanging up, she had awkwardly asked me to be careful and not to do anything which could hurt me. I wasn't sure that I wanted to know what she was talking about.

"Well, I think I can deal with that," he told me, smiling.

Ezra cooked me delicious pastas and we watched another movie before going to sleep. As I didn't have any clothes for the night, Ezra gave me one of his old T-shirts. We got into bed, Ezra wrapped his arms around me, kissed me on the forehead and I fell asleep in his arms.

_The smoke is so thick I can't see anything, I try to call the girls for help but my voice can't produce a single sound. I am trapped here. The smoke invades my lungs, I can't breathe, I can't breathe…_

"Aria, Aria, wake up, you're having a nightmare!" Ezra jabbed me in the side and his voice pulled me out of Spencer's lake house, where I was suffocating, to bring me back to his apartment. I straightened up, sweaty, my hands on my throat. I still had the sensation that I was suffocating.

"Aria, look at me," Ezra cupped my face in his hands.

"I couldn't breathe!" I told him before bursting out in tears.

"Shh, it was just a nightmare." Ezra told me by taking me in his arms.

"It seemed so real," I sobbed against him as he held me tighter .

"Shh, it's over, you're safe now, don't cry, sweetheart," he whispered by caressing my hair and kissing me on top of the head. After long minutes, my pulse calmed down and I slowly pulled away to face Ezra.

"Do you feel better?" He asked me, wiping away a tear from my cheek.

I nodded and he gently pressed his lips against mine. I knew it was supposed to be an innocent kiss but I traced his bottom lip with my tongue, deepening the kiss. He returned my kiss, first hesitantly but he finally opened his mouth a little wider and our tongues began to tangle together in a dance for dominance.

As your kisses got really hot; I reached the bottom of his T-shirt to take it away from him but he suddenly pulled away.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, intrigued.

"Aria, I don't think it's such a good idea now," Ezra replied.

"Why? You don't want to?" I got upset by his rejection.

"Aria, trust me, I do, I really do, I'm doing a really hard effort to stop myself right now, but you are not in good emotional conditions," he said.

"Ezra, please," I said softy. I really needed him, especially at this moment.

"Aria, you have been released from hospital this morning, your ankle is still hurt, it's really not safe," he told me.

"Ezra, I'm fine, I promise, please, don't push me away tonight, I need you." I told him with an imploring look.

He looked at me intensively and caressed my cheek with his thumb.

"How could I push you away?" He whispered before pressing his lips against mine. This time, when my fingers snaked down to the hem of his T-shirt, he didn't offer any resistance and he pulled mine up over my head a few seconds later before lengthening me on the bed to place himself on top of me. His lips gave up my mouth to place hot open mouthed kisses all along the side of my neck, sucking the most sensitive spots before getting down to my collarbone , making me moan.

I wanted him to make me forget all that had happened, Alison's murder, A, the fire, everything. I knew it was impossible, he could never make me forget all these horrors, but during this instant, as he was making love to me, he did.

* * *

**Thank for reading, I hope you liked it. xoxo**


	9. Chapter 9

**Thank you for your reviews ****bite-me-im-irish and HarrylovesGinny09**** .**

**There is a flashback, it's italicized.**

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**Chapter nine**

I woke up the following morning at the sound of my phone bell. Ezra, who had still his arms around my waist, moaned softly as I moved to reach my phone. I sat up on the side of the bed, trying not to wake up Ezra and looked nervously at the tiny screen. I hadn't received any text from A since one week and he/she had never been so long without texting us. To my relief, it was a text from Spencer.

**Girls, I need to see you this morning, I thought of something and I want to talk to you about that. My place, 10am?**

I quickly typed an answer, telling her it was okay, I pressed the sent touch and I slowly got up from the bed. I picked up on the floor the T-shirt that Ezra had given to me last night, the same one he had pulled off of me in the middle of the night and I slipped it on. By walking toward the window, I smiled at the memory of the last night and flipped open the blinds a little bit to let the early morning sun in. Suddenly, I felt Ezra's arms around my waist.

"Hey, you!" He whispered in my ear before burying his face in my neck, kissing me softly. I turned over and smiled at him before giving him a peck on his lips. He pulled me closer, pressing his body against mine.

"How are you?" He asked me, against my hair, probably remembering the nightmare I had had during the night.

"I'm fine," I told him, trying to reassure him.

"Are you sure?" He asked me, breaking our embrace to face me.

"Yes, don't worry, I just had a nightmare, it's not big a deal," I said. He looked at me a few minutes before saying, "I want you to know that what happened is horrible but it's over, you're safe now," he said, caressing my cheek with the back of his palm.

"I know," I lied as he pulled me into a warm embrace. I was anything but safe but it was a thing that he didn't need to know.

"I can't believe these hooligans did that, they could have killed you with their fucking joke!" Ezra got angry, hugging me tighter.

"It was exactly what he wanted," I said. I regretted my sentence as soon as the words passed my lips. I hadn't wanted to say that but the words had just slipped my mouth. I bit my lip, hoping Ezra hadn't paid attention to my sentence but he immediately pulled away and looked at me, amazed.

"What? Why do you say that?" He asked me, suspicious. I tried to pull myself together to seem normal.

"Forget it, it was stupid, I 'm just so angry with these hooligans, I'm sure it was just a joke as the police said," I replied, trying to sound as convincing as possible. But when I met Ezra's gaze I knew it would be hard to make him buy it.

"But why did you say "he"? Do you know who did that?" He asked me, suddenly alarmed.

"No, Ezra, of course not, I spoke without thinking, that's all!" I felt bad for lying to him but I didn't have a choice. I couldn't tell him about A, it was too dangerous and I didn't want him to get hurt.

"Aria, this is important, if you know something you have to tell me!" He insisted.

"But I don't know anything, Ezra. I don't see the point of this conversation. Can you please just drop it?" I told him. He looked at me, still suspicious; I thought he was on the point to insist when he said, " Fine, but I want you to know that you can tell me everything, especially if it concerns your safety. "

"I know, but don't worry, I'm fine," I lied again.

"I'm gonna make us some coffee!" I said, happy to put an end to this awkward conversation.

* * *

One hour and a half later, Ezra's car parked in front of the Hastings' house. I'd wanted to take the bus but he had insisted to drive me up to Spencer's. I wasn't afraid that my father sees us; he was rarely awake before eleven on Sunday morning.

"So, have a good day, I will call you by the end of the day," Ezra told me. I undid my seatbelt and turned around to kiss him. He cupped my face in his hands and kissed me fervently.

"You should tell your friends to be less curious!" He said, when we pulled away a few seconds later. I turned over and I saw Spencer, Emily and Hanna, watching us through the window-pane of Spencer's room window.

"Yes, I'm definitely going to do that!" I said, smiling.

"I love you," he whispered as I got out of the car.

"I love you too," I told him before closing the passenger door. I was walking toward Spencer's door when he called out my name. I turned over and looked at him.

"Aria, promise me to be safe," he said, looking at me seriously.

"Yes, of course," I replied, smiling softly. I felt a shiver through my body as I kept walking toward Spencer's house, I knew I couldn't keep the promise I had just made to him.

"How is the view through the window?" I ironically asked the girls as soon as I stepped into Spencer's room.

"Oh, trust me, the view is perfect, we can see everything," Emily said, smirking.

"You and Fitzy are so damn cute!" Hanna said, giggling, as I rolled my eyes.

"Why did he drive you? Did you spend the night with him?" Emily asked me.

"Yes, I came to his apartment last night; I needed to be with him," I replied.

"Hum, I see," Hanna said, smirking.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked Hanna.

"You know exactly what is that supposed to mean, Aria," Hanna chuckled as my cheeks turned bright red.

"Anyway, it was nice to see you together, as a couple," Spencer said.

"Yeah, you should invite him, someday, for a party with us, it would be an occasion to get to know him better," Hanna added.

"Hum, Han, I'm sorry but I don't think that it's such a good idea." I smiled at the idea of Ezra spending the evening with four of his former students. Even if he was dating one of them, I was sure that he would be very uncomfortable.

"Anyway, Spence, I suppose you didn't want us to come here just to see Ezra kissing me in his car, right?" I said.

"No, I have something to tell you," Spencer said, taking a solemn tone.

"So, what is it about?" Hanna asked Spencer. We were all waiting for her to explain why she wanted to see us.

"I thought of the photos over and over again yesterday, after we separated, and something came to my mind," Spencer told us, seriously.

"The summer before her death, Ali asked me to give her the keys of my lake house. She pretended that she had forgotten something when we had spent a few days, the week before. I offered her to go with her to take it back but she refused, claiming that she didn't mind to go alone and that she didn't want to bother me. I remembered having found that strange because she really insisted to go alone and Alison wasn't the kind of person who was afraid to disturb people.

"So what are you trying to say?" Emily asked Spencer.

"I think Ali could have hid the photos herself," Spencer affirmed.

"What? But why would she have done this?" I asked, amazed.

"I'm not sure, we know that she had been harassed by A before her death, maybe she had found the photos and she was on a serious trace," she replied.

"But why would she have hidden the photos in your lake house?" Hanna asked.

"It's the perfect place; my parents don't go there anymore and she probably thought that she would have the time to take them back, we all know she was wrong," Spencer said as we all looked down.

"Maybe it's why she died, because she had found out who A was," Emily supposed.

"A didn't kill her!" I said, sure of myself. The girls glanced at each other as if they didn't dare to tell me something.

"Aria, I know you think that what Alison said to you in your dream is true but you have to admit that it was a dream, so maybe it's true but maybe it's not. We cannot push aside this possibility," Emily said.

* * *

The girls and I had lunch together and Hanna drove me home in the early afternoon. When I came in the house I found my father in the kitchen, drinking a cup of coffee.

"Hey! How are you, sweetie? Is your ankle getting better?" He asked me, smiling.

"Yes, my ankle is fine, I almost don't feel anything now," I replied.

"I'm sorry, I didn't see you yesterday, I had to finish some papers at Hollis and when I came back home your mother told me that you were staying at your friend's for the night. So, did you have a great time yesterday?" He asked me.

"Yeah, it was nice, Hanna's mom made us delicious macaroni and cheese," I lied. It wasn't really a lie, I had eaten delicious macaroni and cheese except that Hanna's mom wasn't the one who had cooked them. To my surprise, I saw my father furrowing his brows.

"Hanna? Your mom told me that you were staying at Spencer's? He asked, suspicious.

Shit! My mom had probably made a mistake when she had told him where I was supposed to spend the night. My hesitation to reply was enough for my father to figure out.

"You were with him, weren't you?" He asked me, getting angry.

"Dad, I…" I tried to say before he interrupted me.

"I can't believe it!" My father yelled.

"What is going on here?" My mom asked when she came in the kitchen.

"She was with him last night, she was with this…" My father was now full of fury.

"Why do you say that? She was with her friends!" My mom told him.

"You told me that she was at Spencer's and now she is telling me that she was at Hanna's!" My father snapped at my mom.

"Byron, calm down, I made a mistake, that's all!" My mom argued. My father kept yelling as if he didn't even hear what my mother was saying.

"He wanted to stay in the hospital , to make sure she was alright, fine, but she's okay now, so it's over, I don't want him in her life!" My father said without pronouncing Ezra's name.

"_He,_ has a name, you know, so call him by his name, is it too much to ask for?" I asked, angry. I shouldn't have said that but I was too angry to control myself.

"And you, is it too much to ask to be honest with me? Tell me where you spent the night; I want to hear it from you?" He shouted at me.

"I'm going to my room," I said, ignoring his question.

"No! You stay here; we have not finished this conversation!" My father yelled as I was already running up the stairs.

"Byron, you are unbelievable, she has been released from hospital yesterday and you are already yelling at her!" My mom defended me.

"What is unbelievable is that she spent the night with him!" I heard my father say once I was upstairs. I went straight to my room and slammed the door pretty hard. I was so angry with my father; I couldn't believe he kept acting this way after all that had happened to me.

I spent the afternoon locked in my room, cursing my father for being so stubborn. All of a sudden, my cell phone rang. I took it nervously like every time I received a text.

**Sorry to bother you again, guys, but I need to see you, it's important.**

**Spence**

I immediately took my purse and came downstairs, happy to have a reason to get out of this house.

"Where are you going?" My father asked me.

"To see Spencer," I replied coldly without looking at him.

"To see Spencer, really? Do you think you're going to fool me twice?" He said, ironically.

"Dad, it's true, I really need to see her," I insisted.

"You are not going anywhere!" My father told me.

"Byron!" My mom suddenly said.

"She's lying, don't you see it?" He told my mom. She ignored him and looked at me.

"I'm going to pick Mike up at his friend's; I can drop you at Spencer's by the same time," she said, gently.

"Thanks, Mom!" I said, looking daggers at my father.

"Make sure she really goes to Spencer's! "My father added before our leaving.

"You know, if you wanted to see Ezra, you should have asked me before, we could have managed to avoid this discussion with your father. But that should be clear, I don't want you to spend another night with him, it was an exception yesterday, so I will pick you up before dinner," my mom told me a few minutes later in the car.

"Mom, I wasn't lying, I actually want to see Spencer, not Ezra," I said, smiling at my mom's astonished expression.

"Don't worry for your father, he will come around," my mom told me when she parked in front of Spencer's house. I smiled to her before leaving the car but I wasn't so sure about that. I wasn't sure that my father would accept my relationship with Ezra someday.

* * *

"Sorry to disturb you again, guys, but I couldn't wait to show you this," Spencer told us as we were all in her room, for the second time of the day.

"What do you want to show us?" I asked, my heart already pounding faster.

"Today my parents went to the lake house to take back all the things that haven't been destroyed by the fire. They came back with some boxes, old stuffs for the most part but I threw a glance into them and I found something. It was inside an old edition of _Lolita._

"Alison's favorite novel!" I exclaimed. Alison wasn't a voracious reader but she loved _Lolita_ so much. Actually, it was the only book that I have ever seen her reading. She adored it, I didn't know exactly why, it was certainly a good book, very well written which had succeeded to treat a very sensitive subject but it had always made me feel uncomfortable.

Spencer walked to her desk, took something inside and came back with a book in her hands. As soon as I saw the reddish-brown book cover with the golden letters on top, an old memory came back to me.

"_Don't tell me you are reading this book again!" I told Alison when I noticed the title of the book she had in her hands. She was sitting in a lounge-chair in her garden. She had invited the girls and me to spend the afternoon at her home but I was a little early. _

_She looked up at me and smile, "I can't grow tired of this book," she replied._

"_I don't understand how you can read this book over and over again, this story makes me uncomfortable," I said._

"_Why?" She asked me._

"_Why? Because, it's horrible, it makes me sick to see how Humbert Humbert takes advantage on Lolita, she's just a child," I told her by sitting next to her._

"_It's a thing, Humbert is a dick, but I think Lolita knows exactly what she's doing. She is smarter than everybody think. And don't forget, by the end, she takes her revenge by fooling him and running away with another man. He is the one who ends up miserable not her!" Alison said, smirking._

"_Yeah, that's one way of looking at it," I replied, so far unconvinced. _

"_Anyway, it's such a beautiful edition you have here!" I said by caressing the golden letters on the cover._

"_Yes, it's a very rare edition; there are only a few exemplars of it," she said._

"_Where did you get it?" I asked her._

"_It's a gift," Alison replied._

"_From who?" I asked her, intrigued._

"_If I said it to you, you wouldn't believe me," she said with a mysterious look. I was on the point to insist when the doorbell rang, putting an end to the conversation._

Spencer opened the book, took something inside and held it to let us see it. We all got closer to her at the same time to see what she was showing us. In front of your eyes was two pieces of paper. It didn't take me long to recognize Ali's delicate writing, it wasn't just pieces of paper it was pieces of Alison's diary.

* * *

**Thank for reading and please review . **

**Once again, I'm sorry for my errors , I know it's not pleasant to read a text with spelling errors and grammar errors ,in my native language( french) this bothers me sometimes so it must be the same for you.**

**xoxo**


	10. Chapter 10

**Thank you so much for your reviews ****bite-me-im-irish, Notinyourlifetimehoney, YaleAceBella12, Meow, anon, HarrylovesGinny09 and WTRGAL01.**

**I'm sorry for my errors; I know it's not pleasant for you.**

* * *

**Chapter ten**

"It's Alison's diary!" I said in a murmur.

"Yes, you should read it, guys," Spencer advised us. In a same move, Hanna, Emily and I leant over to look at the yellowish paper.

_ June 5, 2010._

_I received a text again today. This person seems to know a lot about me, he knows for what the girls and I did to Jenna, and most important, he knows for me and *. I wonder how he figured out; I thought we had been very careful. I'm afraid of what he could do. I can't let this snake talk. I have to find who sends these texts._

Spencer put the first paper on her desk and unfolded the second one to permit us to read it.

_ August 10, 2010._

_I can't believe he fooled me like that, he is such a jerk! But if he thinks that I'm going to let him off that easy, he is wrong. I'm not the kind of person who let people fool me without doing anything. He is going to pay; I swear to God; this jerk is going to pay. This fucking stalker can tell the world about me and him; I don't care anymore; I will tell everything by myself anyway. I 'm gonna destroy his fucking perfect little life._

"God, look at the date on the second paper, it was just a few weeks before her disappearance," Hanna pointed out.

"Why have these pieces of her diary been ripped and put inside this book? It's kind of weird!" Emily said.

"As I said, I'm pretty sure Alison hid the photos in my lake house, so she has probably done the same with this book. Maybe she found the photos and those pieces of her own diary somewhere," Spencer advanced a theory.

"A had probably stolen her diary from her," Emily said.

"But, who was she talking about? She wrote _he knows for me and *?_ She wasn't talking about A because, in the second paper, she referres to him as the stalker," Emily pointed out.

"I don't know maybe she was talking about Ian, we know she had an affair with him," Spencer said.

"Yes, you're probably right, but she seems very angry with the person she is talking about here , and we know she was with Ian the day she died, and on the tape that we saw, they weren't fighting, quite the opposite," I said, referring to the tape A had sent us a few months ago.

"Maybe they made it up between the moment she wrote that in her diary and the day she disappeared. We already know that Ian couldn't have killed her, anyway," Spencer affirmed.

"But maybe she wasn't talking about Ian, maybe she was seeing someone else," I said. Alison had always been the girl who every boy wanted to be with. She was gorgeous, and she knew how to seduce a man. I had been a bit jealous of the power she exerted over the boys, while they barely noticed me, only seeing me as the strange girl with pink hair.

"It's not impossible, Alison loved playing with people," Emily added, sadness in her eyes. I knew she was referencing to her relationship with Ali. Ali knew that Emily had feelings for her, and she had played with that.

"But who? Does anyone remember something about another boy? Did Alison ever mention something to one of you?" Spencer asked us.

"It can be nothing, but I remember having seen Ali with this book, she told me that it was a gift, but she didn't want to tell me who had given it to her," I confessed.

"Do you think Ian could have bought it for her?" Hanna asked.

"Maybe, but I doubt, except sport, Ian wasn't interested in a lot of things. So, buying a book? This didn't look like him," Spencer told us, convinced.

"What was the matter with this _Lolita_ book, anyway? We already know that she used the author pseudonym when she pretended to be Vivian Darkbloom," Hanna said, meddling with the book.

"Ali adored this book; she was kind of obsessed with it," I replied.

"I didn't know she loved romantic stories, I thought she was a sucker for tragedies," Hanna said.

"Hanna, trust me, _Lolita _is anything but a love story," I told her.

"What is it? It just fell from the book," Hanna suddenly said, holding a little card in her hands.

"Show me," I asked by taking the card. A hotel card.

"How could I've missed that?" Spencer complained.

"I know this place, it's on the road to Phyllis, I stopped by this hotel one time with my parents when the car broke down," Emily explained to us.

"I don't know why Alison had this card nor what she did in this hotel but the better way to know it, is to go there," Spencer told us.

* * *

I came back to school the next day. I was surprised to notice that people had stopped harassing me, they just looked at me weirdly but no one made a comment. At least the "accident" had had one positive consequence. Right after our last period, we jumped in Hanna's car and made our way to the hotel. During the way, my phone rang, announcing a text. I smiled when I saw Ezra's name on the tiny screen.

**Do you think you can find a moment to come over a little bit tonight? I miss you.**

I glanced at my watch. It was barely five o'clock, and the visit to the hotel wasn't going to last too long so I would have plenty of time to see Ezra before coming back to dinner.

**I think I can do that. I miss you too.**

"According to your smile, it must be Ezra," Emily said as she noticed my glowing smile while I was writing my answer.

"What does Mr. Fitz want?" Spencer asked, joking.

"Nothing, he just wants to know if we can meet later," I replied blushing a bit.

"It's here!" Emily suddenly said, pointing to a very small and ugly hotel on the right side of the road. Hanna parked her car in the tiny parking lot, and we got out of the car to walk together toward the hotel. There weren't a lot of people inside, except a couple who was waiting for a room. The receptionist gave a room to them and addressed us with a dry tone, "Can I help you?"

"Yes, I hope so!" Spencer replied before taking Alison's photo in her bag.

"Do you recognize this girl? She probably came here last year!" She asked the woman. The middle-aged woman took a quick look at the photo and looked at us.

"Do you have any idea how many people I see per day? So, asking me if I remember a girl who _probably_ came last year, it's like looking for a needle in a hay stack!" She replied, coldly.

"We know that, but it's really important. We wouldn't ask you that if it wasn't!" I tried to convince her to help us.

"Show me the photo again," she asked us. Spencer gave her the photo; the woman looked at it more attentively and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, but I don't remember her at all!" She told us. In front of our disappointed look the woman told us, "Wait a minute, I can ask my son, he helps me after class, or during holidays, he is here now, maybe he'll remember your friend!" The woman called her son and a few minutes later, a young teenage boy, arrived.

"Yeah?" The young boy asked his mother, nonchalantly.

"Drew, these young ladies want to know if you can remember their friend. Apparently, she came here last year," the woman explained to her son. She held the photo and asked him to look at it. He looked at the photo with a boring look and suddenly his face lighted up.

"Oh yeah, I remember her! But, I thought her hair were black!" He said, confused. The girls and I glanced at each other, all thinking about the same thing: Alison was probably wearing her wig when she came here.

"I think it was her, she had dyed her hair," Spencer informed the boy.

"So, you're sure that she is the girl you remember?" The woman asked her son.

"Yep! It was hard not to notice her, she was so freaking hot!" Drew said, forgetting her mother's presence.

"Drew!" Her mother snapped at him, embarrassed. "That was gross!" I couldn't help but smile as the woman's cheeks turned bright red.

"Sorry," Drew apologized.

"Did she often come here?" Emily asked Drew.

"Yeah, I saw her a lot of time. But after last summer, she stopped coming!" He replied. Of course, we all knew the reason at this sudden stop.

"Was there someone with her?" I asked.

"It was odd, at the beginning she seemed to come alone; she used to take a room and go upstairs, alone. But, after a while, I noticed that a guy joined her; he didn't even asked the room number, as if she had already informed him," Drew replied.

"So how do you know that he was with her?" Hanna asked, suspicious. The boy seemed a little embarrassed; he looked awkwardly at her mom before replying.

"I kind of…. spied on them!" He confessed.

"You did what?" Her mother asked, shocked.

"Well, I was intrigued, so I stayed in front of her room, pretending to do the housework. Then, I saw the guy entered in her room. After that, every time she came here, he arrived a few minutes later," Drew told us.

"What did he look like?" I asked, intrigued.

"Hard to say, I didn't pay good attention to him, he was pretty tall, dark hair, and he was older than her," Drew explained to us. Spencer opened her purse and took another photo inside.

"Is that the man you saw? Spencer asked, holding Ian's photo in front of Drew. He looked at the photo and shook his head in negation.

"No, I don't recognize him at all. I'm sure it wasn't him ! I have never seen this man!" Drew replied, convinced.

"Is there anything else you can tell us about the man who was with our friend?" Emily asked.

"No, I'm sorry, that is all I remember!" Drew said.

"Okay, thank you very much for your help!" I said before we got out of the hotel.

The trip back was quiet, we were all thinking of the new information Drew had given to us and of its meaning. Now, we knew that Ali was seeing someone before her death, someone who wasn't Ian and maybe who was linked to her death.

* * *

**Ezra's POV**

I was waiting for Aria, reading on my couch, when I heard a knock on the door. I got up from the couch and opened the door to see the last person I had expected.

"Jackie! What are you doing here?" I asked with an unwelcome tone. I hadn't expected her at all. I hadn't even spoken to her since the day when I had learnt that she had blackmailed Aria. I still couldn't believe she had done such a thing. I had told her that I didn't want anything from her and that I wouldn't let her do anything to Aria.

"I come to talk to you," she replied.

"I don't think we have anything to discuss, Jackie. Haven't I made myself clear the last time we talked?" I asked coldly.

"Please, Ezra, it's important, let me come in, just a few minutes," Jackie insisted.

I hesitated a few second before stepping to the side, allowing her entrance.

"So? You have five minutes!" I told her, without inviting her to sit down.

"The Dean told me that you had quitted your job in New Orleans and that you wanted him to take you back at Hollis," she began.

"Yeah, as you see, I'm back," I told her, ironically.

"I'm sure this has something to do with _her_," she said without saying Aria's name.

"If you're talking about Aria, so yes, she's the reason I came back." I saw Jackie tensed as I said this sentence.

"You have made a terrible mistake, Ezra; you are messing up your life! You shouldn't have done that, especially for her; she's not the person you think she is!" Jackie said.

"Stop telling me what I should do or not with my life, you have lost this right the day you decided to blackmail Aria to make her break up with me! And don't ever dare to talk about Aria, you don't even know her!" I said, getting angry.

"Neither do you," Jackie told me.

"What that is supposed to mean?" I asked her. I could hear my voice rising in anger.

"If I blackmailed her it's because she is the one who started the game!" Jackie said.

"What the hell are you talking about?" I asked her, irritated.

"She blackmailed me too! She had something on me and she asked me to leave the town if I wanted her to keep her mouth shut," she replied.

"Aria would never do such a thing! She's not like you. I can't believe you invent such a lie just to try to make me break up with her. I can't even believe you have the nerve to do that after all you have already done!" I snapped at her, spitefully.

"Ezra, I swear to you, I'm not lying, I'm telling you the truth," Jackie insisted, getting closer to me.

"Did you hear what happened to her? She almost died!" I told Jackie.

"Yes, I heard! This is sad but it doesn't change anything; she is a manipulative," Jackie said.

"Get out, Jackie!" I told her by opening the door. I knew I couldn't contain my anger any longer and I preferred her to leave before I lose control.

"Fine, if you prefer to believe this little bitch, I can't do anything for you! "Jackie said, her eyes flashed with anger. The way she was talking of Aria made me beside myself with anger. Who did she think she was to talk about Aria like that?

"Get the hell out of my apartment, NOW!" I yelled at her, not even caring of the neighbors.

"Don't tell me I didn't warn you!" She told me before passing the door. I slammed the door pretty hard before she could add a word. The door was barely closed that I heard a knock.

"Shit!" I swore, expecting to find Jackie on the other side of the door. I quickly opened the door and began to snap at her, "What do you want ag…" I suddenly stopped when I saw Aria in front of me.

"Aria! I'm sorry, I thought it was…,"I began to explain.

"Jackie!" Aria finished my sentence by coming in my apartment. She had probably seen Jackie getting out of the building and I got scared that she might have the wrong impression.

"Aria, it's not what you think, she came to see me and then she…" I tried to explain.

"Ezra, it's alright, don't worry, I heard you to fight with her," Aria said. "What was it about?" She asked me, intrigued.

"Well, she heard that I was back in town, and she came by to tell me I was making a mistake, and then she began to say some things and, well, I kicked her out. This time she crossed the line," I told Aria.

"What kind of things did she say? It was about me, wasn't it?" Aria asked, suspicious. I hesitated to tell her the truth. I didn't want to bother her with Jacky's awful lies but I didn't want to lie to her either.

"She said you weren't the one I thought you were and that you… well, that you had blackmailed her too," I repeated Jackie's lies, shaking my head. I immediately saw Aria's face turned into a shock expression. She bit her lip and cast her eyes down. I cursed Jackie for having this conversation with Aria right now. She had been through so much the past few days, and Jackie's stupid accusations were the last thing she needed.

"Hey, don't worry; I didn't believe her," I immediately said, trying to reassure Aria by taking her hand in mine. She pulled her hand away from me and kept her eyes on the floor without looking at me.

"Aria, don't let Jackie wound you, it's exactly what she wants. I told you, I didn't give any credit to her accusations," I told her, lifting her chin to meet her look. When she looked up at me, her eyes were full of unshed tears.

"Ezra, it…it wasn't a lie," she told me as a tear rolled down her cheek.

" Aria, what are you talking about?" I asked her, totally confused. She took a deep breath and said the last thing I had expected.

"I did it; I blackmailed Jackie!"

* * *

**Thanks for reading and please leave me a review.**


	11. Chapter 11

**Thank you so much for your reviews: ****bite-me-im-irish, Notinyourlifetimehoney, YaleAce, HarrylovesGinny09, what lies beneath the surface (thank you, what you said was really nice) and anon (Don't worry I perfectly understood you, thank you very much). **

* * *

**Chapter eleven**

**Ezra's POV**

"What?" I asked, totally stunned.

"I blackmailed her; I threatened her to tell the truth about her article if she didn't leave the town." Aria said, avoiding my look and twisting her fingers nervously. I knew she was trying hard to keep back tears.

"Her article?" I furrowed my brows, more and more confused. I didn't have any idea what she was talking about.

"She plagiarized it," Aria let out. I was amazed. Never would I have thought that Jackie could have plagiarized her article but, I was more amazed that Aria could have blackmailed her. She wasn't this kind of person.

"Okay, this is bad but, why did you do that? It really doesn't look like you," I asked her.

"Ezra, I…" she tried to explain.

"Did you do it because you were jealous? Because you were scared that something happens between Jackie and me? I thought I had been clear about the fact that I didn't feel anything for Jackie anymore!" I told her. I knew Aria had always felt insecure about my former relationship with Jackie, even if I had never given her any reason to be.

"No, I didn't do it because of that, I trust you," she told me, looking at me with her tearful eyes.

"So why? Why did you do it?" I asked again. Aria bit her lip and cast her eyes down again.

"Aria?" I insisted.

"Because I didn't have a choice," she suddenly let out.

"What do you mean by you didn't have a choice?" I asked her, astonished. It just didn't make any sense.

"If I hadn't done it, someone would have ended up hurt," she told me.

"What are you talking about? Who would have ended hurt?" I asked, confused and impatient. It felt like this conversation was going round in circles.

"Dr. Sullivan!" Aria confessed.

"Your therapist?" I pointed out; amazed. Aria had talked to me about her sessions with the therapist that she had been obligated to see during a few months.

"Yes," Aria softly replied.

"What does she have to do with Jackie's article?" I was completely lost. Aria opened her mouth as if she was on the point to tell me something but nothing came out. I could see she was fighting with herself.

"Ezra, I can't tell you more, I'm sorry but I can't," she said.

"Don't you think I deserve an explanation?" I told her, annoyance in my tone. I couldn't help but get angry. I needed to know what was going on; she couldn't let me keep lying. Why didn't she want to talk to me? I was here for her; she knew she could trust me.

"Ezra, I can't," she said as I saw tears pooled at the corner of her eyes.

"Damn it, Aria! What's going on? You need to tell me! This is important!" I snapped at her.

"Stop yelling at me," she said as a tear rolled down her cheek. I immediately regretted my anger. I couldn't stomach to see her crying by my fault. She opened the door and was on the point to leave but I grabbed her by the arm.

"Aria, I'm sorry, I shouldn't have snapped at you, I really am sorry! But I just want to know what is going on! Did someone force you to blackmail Jackie?" I asked her. It was what had come to my mind. It was the only rational explanation. Her face suddenly turned into a strange expression, it wasn't the anger or the guilt, it was the fear. She was totally scared of something or of someone.

"There are so many things you don't know," she said as the tears welled in her eyes and streamed down her face.

"So tell me, I'm here for you, please, tell me the truth, Aria." I said, wiping some tear away from her cheeks. She looked at me a few seconds as though she was on the point to confess everything.

"There is…." She slowly began. I was waiting for her to continue, hoping she was going to talk. But she suddenly interrupted herself and shook her head.

"I'm sorry, I can't, I just can't! I have to go!" Aria said. She suddenly extricated herself from my grip and opened the door before leaving my apartment.

* * *

**Aria's POV**

"Aria?" Spencer said, pulling me out of my thoughts as we were both standing in the corridor waiting for our first period.

"Hum?" I said.

"I was telling you that we should seriously look for the man Ali was seeing before her death. I'm sure he is the key of everything." Spencer said.

"Hum, yeah, you're right," I said, evasively. I couldn't focus on something without thinking of Ezra. He had tried to call me many times since I had left his apartment but I hadn't picked up and I had finally turned my phone off.

"Are you alright? You seemed kind of distracted," Spencer worried. I hesitated to tell her about what had happened with Ezra last night but I felt the need to talk to someone about that. And, if there was one person I trusted the judgment, it was Spencer.

"It's Ezra," I let out.

"Did you two have a fight?" Spencer asked me.

"Yes, no… kind of!" I confessed.

"What happened? Everything seemed to be alright between you the last few days," she asked me, astonished.

"Jackie told him that I had tried to blackmail her," I explained to her.

"Really? What a bitch! How did he react? Was he really angry?" Spencer asked.

"He was more surprised than angry. He wanted to know why I had done such a thing. I told him I had been obliged," I told Spencer.

"And he didn't believe you?" Spencer advanced.

"Oh yes he did, and that is the problem. Now he is asking questions about A!" I said.

"What? He knows about A?" Spencer said, anxiously.

"Not really, but he knows somebody harasses me. The other day, I said something about the fire without thinking and he began to have some doubts but now it's worse. He wants me to tell him the truth," I said, feeling tears in my eyes.

"What are you gonna do?" Spencer asked me.

"I don't know but I can't tell him about A, it's too dangerous, I don't want him to get hurt, we know what A is capable of! But I know he is not going to give up until I tell him what is going on," I said. Spencer looked at me with a sorry look; I knew she had been through the same things with Toby.

"You can't tell him, Aria," she replied softly.

"I know I can't," I sighed.

"Aria, I'm sorry, but sometimes we have to take some difficult decisions to protect the persons we love," Spencer said, hesitantly. I looked up at her as her words hit me.

"Are you…are you suggesting that I should break up with him?" I asked her. I had explored this eventuality a lot of time but I have never succeeded to do it. I didn't know what I had expected but Spencer's suggestion took me by surprise. Maybe I had secretly expected that she would say that I should tell him the truth and stay with him no matter what.

"I would never tell you to do that, it's all your call but, maybe, it would be safer, for now," she told me, casting down her look, as if she was embarrassed to suggest such a thing.

"I don't know if I would be able to do that. I love him, Spence," I said as I felt my eyes begin to well up with tears.

"I know you love him. It's because I loved him that I broke up with Toby," Spencer said, looking at me intensely.

The bell rang, putting an end to our conversation, and leaving me with this horrible revelation: if I really loved Ezra so I had to do everything possible to keep him safe.

* * *

**Ezra's POV**

I had tried to call Aria many times since she had left my apartment, but every time, it went straight to voice mail. She had probably turned it off to avoid my calls.

I had been dumbfounded by Aria's confession but I knew she was hiding something from me. I knew something big was going on. There were a lot of tiny details that I hadn't really paid attention to, which now came back to my mind. Like every time she received a text she seemed nervous or her expression during our conversation about the fire, she was totally scared but by what? Or by who?

I couldn't stay like that without doing anything; if something happened to her I would never forgive myself for that. If I couldn't talk to Aria so I needed to talk with someone who cared about her. I took my cell phone and dialed a number.

"Ella? It's Ezra, I'm sorry to disturb you, but we need to talk, it's about Aria and it's important." I said when Aria's mother picked up my call.

Two hours later, I heard a knock at my door; I opened it to find Ella in front of me.

"Hello, Ella," I said before letting her in. She gave me a slide smile and entered my apartment.

"Please, sit down," I told her. "Do you want something to drink or eat? There is not much choice but I have some Oreos if you want," I proposed to her.

"Hum, Aria's favorites!" Ella noticed.

"Yeah," I smiled. I got them for her! I don't really like these cakes but Aria is crazy about them," I said, smiling.

"Yes, I know," Ella said, smiling softly.

"Thank you, but, I am like you, I don't really like that," she replied, sitting down on my couch. She crossed her legs and waited for me to talk. As I was still wondering how I was going to expose the situation to Aria's mother, she was the first one to speak, breaking the awkward silence.

"So, why did you want to see me? Is something wrong with Aria?" She asked me. I didn't know where to begin. I knew Aria would be mad that I talk to her mom about that but it was too important to let it drop.

"Yes, actually I think there may be a problem," I started, wavering slightly.

"Do you remember when you asked me if I knew someone who could bother Aria?" I asked her, remembering our conversation, in my office, a few months ago. I saw Ella tensed and her face immediately turned into a worried expression.

"Yes I do! You told me you had no idea," she replied.

"And I was telling you the truth. But, now, I do think someone could harass her," I confessed.

"Why do you think that?" She asked me. I stayed thoughtful a few seconds. I couldn't tell her about the blackmail, so I tried to explain to her without mentioning it.

"Well, Aria acted strangely sometimes as though she was scared of something or of someone. I know she has done some things against her will because someone forced her," I explained.

"What things are you talking about?" Aria's mother asked me with an alarmed look.

"I'm sorry; Ella, I can't tell you more, Aria would never forgive me if I did," I said, hoping she wasn't going to insist.

"Why did you ask me that in the first place? You have probably noticed something, haven't you?" I asked her. Ella exalted sharply, and ran her fingers through her long hair.

"Yes, I know there is something going on in Aria's life. As you said, she does act strangely sometimes but, especially, it's the messages which gave me a clue," Ella told me.

"The messages?" I said, furrowing my brows, confusion all over my face.

"Yes, I received several anonymous messages. When I received the first one, I didn't suspect that it could have something to do with Aria but, after that, my husband found a note on his car about the two of you, sneaking around to see each other. And one week ago, after the masquerade ball, we received a photo of you and Aria, kissing on the dance floor," Ella learnt me. I was shocked; Aria had never mentioned this photo.

"Aria didn't tell you about that, did she?" Ella said when she noticed my surprise.

"No, never!" I said. "What did she say when you asked her about these messages?"

"Well, she said that she didn't know who had sent them but I know she lied. Visibly, I'm not very good to detect when she's lying because I had never had any doubt about your relationship until you tell me but, this time, I know she was lying," Ella told me.

"And there was nothing on the messages which could give us a clue?" I asked, intrigued.

"No, absolutely nothing, it was just signed A," Ella replied.

"A?" I repeated. It rang me a bell. I had already seen this signature but, I could remember neither where nor when. Suddenly it hit me. The text Aria had received the day when she had forgotten her phone here, this text which was talking about us, it was signed A too.

"Did you ever receive a text like that?" Ella asked me, noticing my preoccupation.

"No, I didn't, but I know Aria did!" I said. Ella raised her brows, waiting for me to explain.

"One day, a few months ago, Aria had forgotten her phone at my apartment. It didn't stop ringing, so I read the text, thinking it was important. It concerned Aria and me and it was signed A." I explained.

"What did the text say?" Ella asked me.

"I'm not sure, as I said, it was a few months ago but I think it was something like: _You're lucky, the others girls have to do their homework, you get to do the teacher."_ I said, remembering the text I had read. I immediately regretted having told Ella when I saw her, eyes wide open.

"Ella, we weren't….it wasn't true, we hadn't even done it yet…." I instantly stopped, conscious it was getting worse. I had just confirmed Aria's mother that I was actually sleeping with her daughter. How stupid I was sometimes!

"Anyway, Ezra. Had you asked Aria about the text?" She asked me.

The truth was, I hadn't. I had immediately presumed that she had betrayed me by telling someone about us and I had gotten angry. I felt really bad for that. I should have trusted her when she had told me she hadn't told anybody. I should have asked questions instead of kick her out.

"She said she didn't know who the author of the text was," I said, without mentioning the part when I had gotten angry. "Ella, if I called you it's because I'm scared for Aria. She could be in danger. She doesn't want to talk to me, but you should have seen her face, she was scared." I said, remembering last night.

"Ezra, I really appreciate that you called me, I can see you care a lot about Aria and I…" A knock at the door interrupted us. I got up, opened the door and saw Aria in the doorway.

"Hey!" I said.

"Hey!" She replied with a weak smile, "Can I come in?"

I didn't know what to say, I hadn't planned to have a conversation with Ella and Aria at the same time. I knew Aria was going to be pissed to find her mother here but, maybe it was an occasion to discuss the problem together. Without saying a word, I stepped to the side allowing her entrance. She stopped, totally astonished, when she spotted her mother, sitting on the couch.

"Mom? What….what are you doing here?" Aria asked, amazed. Ella furtively glanced at me before answering her daughter.

"Ezra called me, honey," Ella replied. Aria turned over to face me.

"Why?" She asked me, furrowing her brows. I didn't know how to expose the problem without getting her mad.

"You didn't return my calls and I know something is going on, I was worried so I called your mother," I told her.

"Why did you do that? There is nothing to worry about!" Aria said, getting angry as I had expected.

"Yes, I also think that something is going on in your life Aria, and I want us to talk about it!" Ella intervened.

"There is nothing to discuss!" Aria said. I could tell she was angry but angriness wasn't the feeling which dominated on her features, it was the fear.

"Aria, you can't keep lying, your father and I received several messages from this A person, and Ezra told me he knew that you had received a text too. You have to tell us the truth. It's high time! Do you know who send these messages?" Ella asked Aria. Aria tensed and got pale when Ella mentioned A.

"No, I don't know! It was probably just a joke!" She said before looking at me. "I can't believe you told my mom about that!" She snapped at me, forgetting Ella's presence.

"Ella, I'm sorry to ask you that, but can you leave us alone for a moment, please? I would like to talk to Aria!" I said. Ella nodded and got up from the couch.

"I'm going home; we'll continue this conversation later. Don't come back too late." Ella told her daughter before leaving my apartment.

"You had no rights to do that!" Aria said, furious, once the door was closed.

"I did it because I was worried! Why don't you tell me the truth?" I said.

"Because, there is nothing to say!" Aria replied. I got closer to her and I placed my hands of the both sides of her face.

"Aria, please, stop lying to me! I'm worried about you." I told her. I saw the tears filled her eyes, she bit her lower lip which had begun to tremble and she then said the last thing I had expected her to say.

"We're over!" She let out with a husky voice, removing my hands from her face. I stayed speechless for a moment, totally stunned by her sentence.

"What?"

"I said we're over," she repeated, avoiding my look before walking toward the door. I grabbed her by the arm to prevent her from leaving.

"Aria, you can't mean it!" I said, shaking my head. She couldn't be serious.

"I do!" She said, still avoiding my look. Her eyes were rimmed with tears she seemed to refuse to let fall.

"No, Aria, I don't believe you, you can't be serious! You are not even able to look at me in the eyes!" I said. She freed herself from my arms and tried to open the door with her shaky hands but I grabbed her once again.

"Ezra let me go!" she replied as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"Damn it, Aria! Don't do that! I love you!" I desperately said. She stopped struggling during a quick moment; the tears were now falling down her cheeks. She seemed to fight against herself and to see her like this, was breaking my heart.

"Ezra, please, let me go!" She said between her tears.

"No, Aria, I'm not going to let you until you told me what it's going on!" I replied. She then seemed to make a huge effort to pull herself together and to control her tears before looking at me in the eyes.

"What is going on is that I don't want to be with you anymore!" She said.

I looked at her, amazed and this time, when she freed herself from my arms, I didn't grab her and I watched her running away from my apartment, leaving me amazed and heartbroken.

* * *

**Okay, so I know, it's not a happy chapter but don't worry :) Please, Review to tell me what you think!**

**xoxo**


	12. Chapter 12

**Thank you so much for your reviews ****bite-me-im-irish, Notinyourlifetimehoney (Thanks for the comments about my mistakes), krazyfan1, YaleAce, maddiemoo, foreverdream7, BrookeRachelle, Deemi, gymgurl26, HarrylovesGinny09, what lies beneath the surface and Lilia Harding. It was really kind of you.**

* * *

**Chapter twelve**

**Aria's POV**

I ran out of Ezra's building as fast as I possibly could, without bothering to spare my ankle as the doctors had advised me to do, a hand pressed against my mouth to muffle my sobs.

I couldn't tell Ezra the truth because this meant telling him all about A, and I couldn't do that. A had tried to kill Hanna and me, I couldn't take the risk to get Ezra hurt; if anything ever happened to him I would never forgive myself for that. So I had done what I had to do to protect him. My mom had been the perfect pretext; I knew he had called her because he was worried about me, but I would have broken up with him anyway. It had just been easier to make him believe that I was angry, but that didn't make the things less painful. I felt as if my whole world was falling apart. I couldn't even believe I had done that. I don't even know how I had been able to do it.

Suddenly, my cell phone rang. I stopped and opened my bag with my still trembling hands and looked at the tiny screen. It was Ezra who was calling me. I was on the point to turn my phone off when the little melody announcing a text filled the air. I opened it and froze.

**Poor, poor little liar. Looks like you lost the love of your life! This is so sad. ****I hope I have nothing to do with that. But don't worry, you are not alone, I am here, I will always be here.**

**A**

Before I know what I was doing I threw my phone on the road and watched it as it exploded into many pieces.

When I reached home I tried to dry my eyes, I didn't want my parents to notice I had cried, but my eyes were so puffy and red that I knew it couldn't pass unnoticed. My mother's reaction when I opened the door gave me right.

"Aria, honey, what's wrong? What happened with Ezra?" She asked me, worried, by telling Ezra's name in a low voice to make sure my father couldn't hear.

"I don't want to talk about that, mom," I said, biting the inside of my cheek to prevent me from crying.

"Aria, remember, we have to finish this conversation…" My mom began to say.

"Mom, please, not now!" I said. The only thing I wanted was to be alone; I knew I wouldn't be able to contain my tears any longer.

"Where are you coming from?" My father suddenly asked me from the kitchen.

"It's none of your business!" I replied coldly. I was so upset and so angry with A, that a conversation with my father was the last thing I needed.

"Oh, I think it is! You were with him again, right?" He asked me, entering the living room as I was already on the staircase. I don't know what happened at this moment but I completely lost my temper. I stopped, turned over to face him, and began to yell at him.

"Yes, I was with him. But you can be happy now because we're over. Ezra and I are over! It's exactly what you had been looking for, isn't it? So are you fucking happy now?" I snapped at him, spitefully while the tears fell down my face.

My father was so shocked by my boldness and maybe by my hysterical sobs that he didn't even reply. I swallowed hard, and before my parents could say something, I ran up to my bedroom.

"_Good job, Byron!" _I heard my mom say to my father as I was closing my door.

I crumbled down on my bed and burrowed my face into the pillows to muffle my sobs.

* * *

"You did the right thing." Spencer told me as we sat down at our usual table for lunch, the following day.

I had told the girls what had happened with Ezra as soon as I had arrived at school. It wasn't as if I had really had the choice, because no matter how hard I had tried to camouflage my puffy eyes with makeup, they were still really puffy and red and everybody could see I had cried.

"How can you tell her that she did the right thing? She broke up with the man she loves!" Hanna said, indignant.

"She had to do it to protect him, Hanna. Ezra was so close to find out about A, and we all know that A wouldn't have appreciated that! What would you have done if it had been Caleb?" Spencer replied. Hanna sighed.

"I know, but it's just so sad. You and Fitzy can't be over; you two are like Romeo and Juliet! " Hanna said. The girls and I glanced at each other.

"Hanna, do I need to remember you the end of this story?" Spencer asked Hanna.

"Why? They end up together, don't they?" Hanna said.

"In the death, yes!" Spencer replied.

"What? What are you talking about?" Hanna said, astonished. Spencer rolled her eyes.

"Hanna, are you sure that you have read this book?" Spencer asked her.

"Well, I maybe skipped the fifty last pages," Hanna replied. We all laughed. Even in this situation Hanna was the only one who had the power to make me laugh.

"Did Ezra try to call you?" Emily asked me.

"I don't know, I don't have a phone anymore," I replied.

"Why? Did your father confiscate it?" Hanna asked, raising a brow.

"No, I…" I began to say hesitantly, "when I left Ezra's apartment yesterday night, A sent me a text, and, in anger, I threw my phone on the road." I confessed, not very proud of myself.

"What did the text say?" Emily asked me.

"Well, this snake was just really happy to learn that Ezra and I had…. broken up!" I added, saying the last word with difficulty. I still couldn't believe it was true. It couldn't be.

"God! We have to do something! This person can't keep ruining and control our life like that, this has to stop!" Hanna said, shaking her head.

"Sometimes, I'm just under the impression that it will never stop! That we will never find what happened to Ali and who A is," I said, belatedly.

"Don't say that, Aria," Emilie said.

"But seriously guys, we have nothing! The only thing we know is that Ali was seeing a guy before her death, and that A knew it because he/she had probably stolen her diary. That's all!" I said, desperate.

"But, it's already something! It could be important, I'm sure it is. We just have to keep searching. We will find the truth! I know we will!" Spencer said, trying to sound convincing, but I knew she wasn't. She was just trying to comfort me but I knew she wasn't sure that the nightmare would stop one day.

All the day, I tried to keep my mind busy to prevent me from thinking of Ezra but without any success. I couldn't stomach the thought of hurting him like I had done. Every time I saw his face, when I had told him that I didn't want to be with him anymore, I felt the tear feeling my eyes.

My mother hadn't talked to me about A yet, but I had to find what I would tell her when she would ask questions.

When I came back home, my father was in the kitchen, he saw me, and stopped me before I could go upstairs.

"Hey, sweetie! Your mother has a meeting at work tonight, so it's just you, me and Mike. What do you want to eat? It's all your call!" My father asked me, smiling.

So now, he was playing the nice daddy! Of course, he had gotten what he wanted! Ezra and I weren't together anymore.

"I'm not hungry!" I replied coldly. I knew that I couldn't eat something without finishing above the toilet. Moreover, the simple idea of a dinner with my father happy about my break-up with Ezra was unbearable. Actually, the only thing I wanted was to be alone in my room.

"Aria, come on, you can choose whatever you want," my father insisted, still with a glowing smile on his face.

"I said I wasn't hungry!" I snapped at him. "I'm going to my room!" I added, making my way upstairs.

I reached my room, closed the door behind me, and finally let the tears flow down my face.

Two hours later, I was still on my bed, weeping when I heard a knock at my door. Before I could say anything, Mike suddenly came in my room, a plate with a piece of chocolate pie in his hands.

"Aria, you're sure you're not hungry? I saved you a piece of chocolate pie, your favo…"Mike interrupted himself when he noticed me, crying on my bed.

"Hey, what's wrong, sis?" He asked me, entering my room and closing the door behind him.

"Nothing, Mike, don't worry!" I managed to say between my tears.

"Nothing? Come on, look at you, Aria," he told me. He then put the plate onto my desk, got closer to me and sat down on the side of my bed.

"Come on, tell me what's wrong? Is it because of Fitz?" Mike said. Like the girls at the beginning, Mike never called Ezra by his first name.

"It's over!" I said as the tears I had finally managed to stop started to fall down my face once again.

"Why? What happened? I swear that if he did something to you, he will regret it! No one touches my big sister!" Mike said. In spite of my tears, I smiled a bit at Mike's sentence. It was nice to see that I could count on my little brother.

"No, Mike, he didn't do anything! I know he will never hurt me!" I told my brother.

"So, why did you break up?" Mike asked, furrowing his brows. I opened my mouth to say something but I couldn't say a single word, instead, tears came faster down my cheeks.

"Hey, it's okay, Aria!" Mike said, wrapping his arms around me and pulling me into a warm embrace.

"I had to do it; that is all I can say!" I said as my brother hugged me tighter. Mike waited a few minutes for my sobs to stop a bit and for my breath to steady before pulling away to look at me.

"Aria, Look, whatever the reason is, I'm sure it wasn't the right thing to do!" Mike told me, looking at me seriously.

"Mike, you have no idea what you're talking about," I objected.

"Maybe, but if there is one thing that I'm sure of , it's that if something can make you so sad and so miserable, like you are now, so it can't be a good thing." Mike said, brushing a tear away from my face. "Aria, I know you really love him, " he added.

"Yes, I do!" I said. Of course I did, it was the reason I had broken up with him, because I loved him and I wanted to keep him safe.

"So, whatever the problem is, I'm sure you and he can face it together," Mike told me.

"But in this case, I don't know if it's possible, Mike!" I sadly replied.

"You know, a very smart person told me one day that when you love someone, it is worth fighting for, no matter what the odds," Mike added, winking. I gently smiled as I recognized my own words. I sighed. My brother was right. What did I do?

"You're right; I shouldn't have broken up with him!" I said. Once again, the tears filled my eyes as I remembered Ezra's hurt face. I shouldn't have done this to him, even if it was to protect him.

"So, what are you waiting for? Go to see him and make it up with him!" Mike told me.

I glanced at my watch, it was almost ten o'clock.

"I can't! Dad will never let me get out at this hour" I said. I saw a smirk spreading across Mike's face.

"Thanks God, there is still my window!" He told me, smiling widely. "Come on!" He said before getting up from my bed and walking toward his room.

I followed him, entered his room and Mike opened his window for me like he had done a few months ago the day Ezra and I had told my parents about our relationship.

"Be careful with your ankle, you could hurt yourself," Mike advised me.

"Yes, don't worry," I reassured him. I then looked at him. How my little brother, who spent all his time playing video games, had he become this amazing and mature boy who was standing in front of me? I was so proud of him; it was important to me to know that my only sibling was on my side and that he was ready to help me.

"Thank you so much, Mike! I love you!" I told him before giving him a hug!

"Well, remember that tomorrow when mom and dad ask who want to do the dishes!" Mike teased me. I laughed softly, gave him another quick hug before striding over to the open window.

I carefully went down along the wall and I jumped the last meters, being careful not to land on my wrong ankle. Once I was on the ground, I waved at Mike and I began to walk at a brisk pace toward Ezra's apartment.

Fifteen minutes later I was in front of his door. I knocked several times but got no answer. Maybe he was spending the evening outside! I bent for the key under the doormat and entered his tiny apartment. I was going to wait for him here. I sat down on the couch and I suddenly got scared.

What if he didn't want to see me again, after what I had said? Maybe he was sick of me and my secrets. Maybe he was going to ask me to leave. What if I had totally screwed up our relationship for good?

After long minutes of torturous thoughts, the tiredness won the fight and I fell asleep on Ezra's couch.

* * *

**Ezra's POV**

I parked my car in front of my building and looked for my keys in my pocket. I had spent the evening outside; I had walked a bit and had stopped in a café to drink something. I had needed to clear up my head after what had happened with Aria.

I couldn't believe she had broken up with me; after all the things that we had been through! What hurt the most was that I didn't even know the real reason. I knew she was hiding something important, but maybe I shouldn't have pushed her like this. I couldn't get her last words out of my head. She couldn't really mean it, could she?

I had tried to call her but her phone seemed to be turned off all the time, and I couldn't just show up at her house and take the risk to be kicked out by her father.

It couldn't be the end, we couldn't be over, I couldn't lose her, it was just unbearable.

I opened my door and was surprised to find it already open. Had I forgotten to lock before my leaving? I stepped into my apartment and immediately stopped when I saw Aria, asleep on my couch.

"Aria?" I said, astonished. She jumped up and I immediately regretted not having spoken more softly.

"Hey, it's me, don't worry," I told her. She got up from the couch and stared at me. I noticed that her eyes were very puffy and red; she had probably cried a lot.

"What are you doing here?" I asked her confused. Her bottom lip started to tremble as her eyes began to fill with tears.

"I'm sorry!" She said as a loud sob escaped her lips, breaking my heart. She seemed so vulnerable, so fragile that the only thing I wanted to do was to take her in my arms. And I did. I immediately closed the gap between the two of us and wrapped my arms around her.

"Shh, don't cry sweetheart!" I whispered, kissing her hair as she wrapped her arms around me.

"I'm sorry!" She sobbed against me.

"It's okay, Aria!" I told her by hugging her tighter.

"I thought I would be able to do it, but I can't," she said, weeping against my chest.

"Do what?" I asked softly, caressing her hair. She kept silence during a few seconds, trying to control her breath.

"Stay away from you!" She finally let out. I pulled away a bit to face her and look at her in the eyes.

"You don't have to do that, Aria! I am here for you, no matter what!" I said, wiping tears away with my thumb.

"I'm so sorry for what I said, I didn't mean it. I swear that I didn't mean it! Please forgive me!" Aria told me while the tears came faster down her face. I felt very relieved. Even if I knew she couldn't mean what she had said, a tiny part of me had doubted.

"Shh, of course I forgive you!" I replied, pulling her against me to try to calm her down.

I held her a while until her breath goes back to normal. I slowly broke our embrace and we looked at each other.

"I love you!" She said with a very soft voice.

"I love you too, Aria, so much," I replied, replacing a piece of her hair behind her ear.

She then gave me a weak smile before pressing her lips against mine.

She snaked her arms up and around my neck as I wrapped mine around her skinny waist, pulling her closer to me. I slowly traced her bottom lip with my tongue, asking for entrance. She immediately responded and I slipped my tongue into her waiting mouth. Our tongues immediately began to battle for dominance as her hands started to unbutton my shirt.

_God, I love this girl more than anything. I just can't imagine my life without her. _Was the only thing I could think about as I kissed her passionately, deepening the kiss.

Once she had removed my shirt, I reached the hem of her little black top and pulled it over her head while she caressed my torso, sending shivers through my whole body.

She then jumped to wrap her legs around my waist and I carried her up to the bed without breaking your kiss. I slowly settled her onto the bed and placed myself on top of her. She moaned when I placed open mouth kisses on her neck, savoring the taste of her soft skin. My lips moved down to her collarbone as I snaked my hands along her body until I reach the zipper on her skirt. I tugged the cloth down her body, removing her panties at the same time. Aria reached my belt, undid it, and I removed my pants before throwing them onto the floor. I kissed her flat stomach, moving slowly along her body up to her mouth to kiss her hungrily.

I wanted her so bad; I wanted to make love to her all the night.

That night, it didn't matter if I didn't know all about her life; it didn't matter if she was hiding something from me, we could talk about it later, but, now, the only thing that mattered was that she was here, in my arms and I promised myself that I would never let her go again.

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**I hope you liked it and please tell me what you think.**

**Sorry for my errors.**

**xoxo**


	13. Chapter 13

**Thank you so much to all the persons who took time to write a review: ****bite-me-im-irish, Nabrenda12, Guest, thecandygirl1, Deemi, HarrylovesGinny09 and Notinyourlifetimehoney.**

* * *

******Chapter thirteen**

**A****ria's POV**

Before I even opened my eyes, a smile spread over my face when I felt Ezra's warm body against mine.

I let out a sigh of relief and happiness. It had been a terrible mistake to leave him, I just couldn't lose him and I knew he wouldn't have given up on us so easily. But I also knew that he wouldn't give up about A and would keep asking questions. How to blame him? If something like that was going on in his life, I would want to be informed. It was just human: when you love someone, you want to know all what happens in his life. Now I was going to have to find a way to deal with that. I still didn't know what I was going to do or to say but I didn't regret my decision to be back with him, and I was so glad that my brother made me realize that Ezra and I could face it together even if I still didn't know how .

Ezra moved slowly beside me and moaned before opening his eyes.

"Hey!" I said, smiling softly.

"Hey!" he replied before leaning to give me a peck on my lips.

"Did you sleep well?" He asked me.

I straightened up on my elbow and smiled. "Always, when I'm with you!"

He put his hand on the back of my head and kissed me. When we pulled away I moved into a sitting position and looked at him seriously.

"Ezra, once again, I'm sorry for the way I acted and for what I said," I told him. Even if he had told me that he forgave me, I still felt bad for what I'd said, all the more that I knew my words had hurt him.

Ezra tenderly cupped my cheeks in his hands, brushing a piece of hair off my face.

"Aria, it's alright, don't worry, I shouldn't have pushed you like I did." He reassured me.

I shook my head. "No, it's not your fault at all. I know that you're worried and that you have a lot of questions, but I…." I hesitantly said. There we were! We couldn't avoid this discussion and pretend that nothing had happened; he couldn't pretend that he didn't know anything.

"Aria, yes, I'm worried but I don't want to force you to talk if you don't want to. When you are ready you will tell me. I just hope it will be sooner than later, but I won't push you anymore. I just want you to know that I'm here and that you can trust me," Ezra told me.

I gently smiled and caressed his cheek with the back of my palm.

"Thank you, Ezra," I said. I was relieved that I didn't need to tell him about A, for now. I knew I was going to have to tell him, but for now, he didn't know anything which meant that he was still safe and that was all that mattered.

"So," Ezra began, changing the subject, "As much as I love to be in bed with you, I think that you should get ready for school. What did you tell your parents? I can drop you off at your friend's house where you told your parents you were spending the night, if you want?" Ezra asked me. It suddenly hit me.

"Oh crap!" I let out; my eyes wide open in panic. My parents didn't even know I wasn't at home. I should have left earlier to be home before their awakening! God they were going to kill me, especially my father.

"What? What's wrong?" Ezra asked me, suddenly worried.

"My parents don't even know I'm not at home. My brother helped me to sneak around yesterday night. Oh God! I have to go, now!" I said, getting up from the bed before picking up my clothes on the floor. I dressed up as quickly as I could, and I was trying to fix my messy hair when we heard a knock on the door.

I immediately froze. _God not my father, please!_ I prayed in my head. I shot an anxious glance at Ezra. He quickly got up and walked to the door to open it when I stopped him.

"Ezra, you can't open the door like that," I whispered, pointing at his boxers which were the only clothes he had on him. If it was my father behind the door, the last thing I wanted was to make things worse, and seeing Ezra in his underwear would make things worse without any doubts. Ezra quickly picked up his shirt and his pants and dressed up before opening the door.

_"Oh, hey!"_ I heard Ezra say when he opened the door.

_"Hello, Mr. Fitz!"_ I felt a huge relief when my brother's voice answered Ezra.

_"Please, come in!"_ Ezra invited him

"Mike! What are you doing here?" I asked my brother, astonished, when he entered Ezra's apartment.

"You weren't answering your phone; it went straight to voice mail so I came here!" He replied, glancing around him.

"Yeah, sorry, my phone is broken! Did mom and dad ….?" I worried, unable to finish my sentence.

Mike shook his head, smiling. "Don't worry, sis, I told them that I had heard you early this morning and that you had gone to Spencer's for your science assignments," he told me.

"God, you're a genius!" I told my little brother by hugging him.

"So, Mike, do you want to join us for breakfast?" Ezra proposed. Mike seemed to hesitate a few seconds.

"I don't know, I don't want to impose myself," he replied.

"Don't be silly, you just save my life!" I told him.

"Okay then!" Mike accepted. As Ezra walked toward his kitchen to make us breakfast, a grin crossed Mike's face as he looked at Ezra's bed.

"What?" I asked, confused.

"Hum, looks like you have finally made it up with him!" My little brother whispered in my ear, glancing at the untidy sheets on Ezra's bed as my cheeks turned bright red with embarrassment. Hearing the girls teasing me about my sex life was a thing, but my little brother…..

"It's ready!" Ezra said. Mike and I moved toward the little table, in front of Ezra's couch, which was the only table in the tiny place. I sat down on the couch, next to Mike, and Ezra held us a cup of coffee and put a plate full of toast on the table before sitting down on a chair in front of me.

Mike grabbed the mug from Ezra's hands and thanked him. "Thank you, Mr. Fitz."

"Oh, come on, you can call me Ezra. After all, you're my girlfriend's brother." Ezra replied, smiling at Mike. I couldn't help but smile when the word _girlfriend_ escaped Ezra's lips. It was new to me to hear him talking about me as his girlfriend, I was more habituated to be introduced as his friend or worse as his former student. So, even if it was just in front of my brother, it made me happy.

"You know, Mr. F…, I mean Ezra," Mike corrected himself, "I have never had the opportunity to apologize for what I did the day you and my sister told my parents about your relationship," Mike told Ezra. Ezra gave a friendly smile to Mike and shook his head.

"Oh, don't worry about that! Aria told me why you did it," Ezra said. "Actually I have to thank you for having done it; I bet that my lip would still be in a bad shape if your father had hit me instead of you!"

We all laughed at his comment but I couldn't help praying that Ezra would never experiment it.

"So, what do you do now that you don't teach at Hollis anymore?" Mike asked Ezra.

I shot him a glance. It was a pretty delicate subject; Ezra hadn't found any jobs yet and that was killing him. Teaching was his passion and I knew he wasn't complete without it. I couldn't help but feel guilty about it, it was because of me that he had left Rosewood high and he had quitted his job in New Orleans to be with me. Sometimes, I was just under the impression that I had ruined his life and I couldn't help myself but wonder what his life could look like if he hadn't met me. Probably less complicated!

I had expected Ezra to be embarrassed by Mike's question but instead his lips spread into a smile.

"Actually, I haven't had the opportunity to tell Aria yet, but I think it's the perfect occasion," Ezra said.

"Tell me what?" I asked confused.

"I had a job interview last week, while you were still in the hospital, and the principal called me two days ago, I got the job!" Ezra said, proudly.

"Congratulations," Mike said.

"Thank you Mike," Ezra replied, still looking at me to see my reaction.

"Yeah, that's great, but why didn't you tell me that you had had an interview?" I asked.

"Well, I didn't want you to be disappointed if I didn't get it, it's why I preferred to wait," he replied.

"Where are you going to teach?" I asked him.

"In a middle school, half an hour away from Rosewood," he told me, with a glowing smile.

"Wow, that's amazing!" I said before getting up from his couch to kiss him.

"Hum!" Mike cleared one's throat causing us to pull away from each other immediately.

"You know, I can wait for you outside, if you want more privacy," Mike told me. I laughed as Ezra blushed.

"No, that's okay, we have to go anyway, I don't want us to be late for school," I told my brother. We helped Ezra to clear the table and Mike and I made our way toward the door.

"I didn't ask you but when do you start the job?" I asked Ezra as we were on the point to leave his apartment.

"I'm not sure yet, probably next week but I'm seeing the principal today, he will tell me more," he said. He kissed me on the cheek and I left his apartment with Mike.

We were about to exit the building when I stopped. "Crap, I forgot something! Wait for me outside!" I told Mike. He nodded and I quickly went upstairs up to the apartment 3B. Ezra opened his door immediately.

"I forgot something." I told him, and before he could ask me what, I rose on tiptoes and pressed my mouth against his lips to kiss him fervently.

"WOW!" He said, breathless when I pulled away, a few seconds later.

I smiled. "That was my way to congratulate you for the job!" I told him, smirking before running down the stairs to join Mike, letting Ezra in his doorway with a big smile on his face.

* * *

"Hey, Aria," the girls greeted me when I arrived at school.

"Hey!" I replied by joining them in the corridor.

I saw Hanna looking at me weirdly. "Weren't you wearing this outfit yesterday?" She asked me, pointing at my black skirt and my black top.

Unfortunately, I hadn't had time to go back home before school to change my clothes, and the only thing that Ezra had was old T-shirts too big for me.

"Hum, yes, that's right," I replied, nonchalantly, hoping the girls were going to drop it, but instead they all looked at me weirdly, furrowing their brows.

I rolled my eyes. "What? That's not rare, some persons wear the same outfit two days in a row," I replied.

"Maybe, but not you!" Spencer said. "I know you for five years and I have never seen you with the same outfit twice in a row. I think I have never even seen you with the same outfit twice in a year!" Spencer said.

"Spence, you're exaggerating," I told her. Wasn't she? Maybe not that much after all!

"She's right," Emilie added with an apologetic smile. I sighed. They weren't going to give up until I told them the truth.

"Fine, I didn't spend the night at home," I confessed.

"What? Were you with… "Hanna began to say.

"With Ezra, yes. I was with him. We're back together." I let out. I looked at Spencer. I knew she had advised me to stay away from him and I couldn't help wondering how she was going to react.

"Spence, I know you think I'm stupid but I just couldn't, I….," I tried to say.

"Aria, it's alright, it's your decision and I respect it. I will never think that you're stupid, you love him, and trust me, I understand," Spencer told me, looking at me in the eyes.

"Yes, none of us will ever judge you because you have been unable to stay away from the person you love," Hanna added.

"Thanks , guys," I told them, relieved.

"But, did you tell him about A?" Emilie asked me in a low voice to make sure that no one could hear us.

I shook my head in negation. "No, he won't push me to talk until I'm ready ," I said, remembering Ezra's words.

"That's a good thing," Spencer said.

"Yeah, but I'm not going to be able to keep it from him forever, sooner or later I will have to tell him," I added. At this moment I had no idea that I was going to have to tell him the truth earlier than I had planned.

* * *

The same day, after my last period and before coming back home, I decided to pay a visit to Ezra to know how his interview had gone.

As soon as I entered his apartment, using the key under the door-mat, I immediately knew that something was wrong.

He was sitting at his desk, staring vacantly into space; a paper in front of him and a half empty glass of vodka next to his hand.

"Ezra?" I called, worried. He immediately hid the paper in his drawer and looked at me.

"Hey!" He said with a sad smile.

"Is everything's okay?" I asked him, nervously.

Ezra sighed and took a sip of his drink, avoiding my look.

"Ezra? Please, tell me what's going on," I insisted, stepping toward his desk.

He looked at me, sighing. "I saw the principal today, I didn't get the job eventually," he said, sadly.

"Why? What happened? I thought he had already given it to you," I asked, in disbelief. Ezra had told me the same morning that he had already gotten the job and that he was just waiting for the principal to tell him when he had to start.

"Yes, but he told me that he didn't need me anymore," he replied.

"What? Why doesn't he need you now when he offered you a job two days ago? It doesn't make any sense!" I told him, totally astonished.

Ezra smiled ironically, "It's exactly what I thought, so I insisted to know the real reason," he confessed.

"What did he say?" I asked him.

"He told me that he had received a letter," Ezra replied.

"What letter?" I said, totally confused. Instead of answering, Ezra opened his drawer and took out the same paper which was in front of him when I had arrived.

"This letter!" Ezra said, holding the paper to let me read it. I took it from his hands and read the letter which had ruined Ezra's future.

_Dear principal,_

_I heard that you were on the point to hire Mr. Ezra Fitz and I just thought that you needed to know which kind of teacher he really is._

_Ezra Fitz is an amazing teacher; very patient, interested in his job and comprehensive. Actually, his only fault is that he can be…. how can I say that? A little bit too close to his students, especially if they wear skirts, if you see what I mean._

_I just want to warn you before you take your final decision but my intention is not to dissuade you from hiring him. I'm telling it again: he is a great teacher; after all, it's not his fault if he is attracted to sixteen years old girls._

_Yours faithfully_

_A_

I froze and felt myself getting pale as I read the letter. I couldn't believe A had done that, I couldn't believe he/she had ruined Ezra's future. A wanted to ruin us but why did he/she also want to ruin Ezra's life? Of course I knew the answer: because I loved him, and A was determined to destroy the life of all the persons we loved.

I raised my head to look at Ezra who was still sitting at his desk.

"Ezra, I'm so sorry," I told him as the tears filled my eyes. He got up from his chair and stood in front of me.

"Aria, I know I've just told you that I would not force you to talk, but now, I really think it's time for you to tell me the truth about A," Ezra said, looking at me in the eyes.

I knew he was right. Now, I didn't have a choice, I needed to tell him the truth, I owed him the truth. Even if nothing had changed, and that I was still totally terrified that A could hurt Ezra, I couldn't keep it from him any longer. A had already done too much to Ezra, it wasn't just me anymore, he was too involved, I couldn't keep lying to him.

I sighed, surrendering. "Yes, I know, I'm going to tell you everything!"

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**So, what do you think? **

** Sorry for my errors and feel free to point out any of them.**

**Oh, and happy pretty little liars day to people who can watch it today!**

**Bisous**


	14. Chapter 14

**Thank you so much for all your kind reviews : Guest, BrookeRachelle, Guest, Madi, xxPaige23xx, Maddiebieber101, Ezra and aira , Citcat, HarrylovesGinny09, Deemi and Notinyourlifetimehoney.**

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**Chapter fourteen**

**Aria's POV**

Twisting nervously my fingers, I sat down on Ezra's couch, waiting for him to join me. He sat down next to me and looked at me, waiting for me to talk.

There we were. The moment that I dreaded since the beginning, this moment where I would be obligated to tell the man I loved everything about the nightmare that my friends and I were living since months. The moment where I would have to confess everything about the person I was so afraid of, this person who I knew could do a lot more than ruin Ezra's job; this same person who had tried to kill me only a few weeks ago. I knew there was no turning back from the line I was about to cross. Once I would have told him everything, I wouldn't be able to take it back. I had succeeded to avoid the subject for months but I didn't have a choice anymore, I needed to tell him, I needed to tell him the truth.

"Everything has begun when I came back from Iceland," I finally let out.

"The day we met?" Ezra interrupted me.

"No, the day after, when school started," I replied. He nodded and kept silence to let me continue.

"Actually, I was in your classroom when I received the first text," I said, remembering the first text that A had sent me.

"It was about my father's affair with Meredith and it was signed A. I immediately presumed that it was from Alison; she loved making jokes like that, and she was the only person who knew that my father had had an affair. The same day, I talked to the girls and they confessed having received similar texts, like me, about a secret that only Ali could know. At this moment, we even had a hope that maybe she was still alive, for us she was the only person who could have sent these texts, but the day after …." I paused, unable to bring myself to finish my sentence.

"Her body was found," Ezra helped me.

I nodded in agreement, holding back tears at the painful memory of the night where I had seen my fifteen years old best friend's body on a stretcher. Ezra noticed my distress because he started to rub my back gently, patiently waiting for me to continue.

"The police said that she had been killed a year ago, she couldn't have sent the texts. And, the day of Ali's funerals we all received a text from A at the same time," I said.

"What did the text say?" Ezra asked me.

"_I'm still here, and I know everything, bitches_!" I told Ezra. Even if we had received this text a long time ago, I still remembered the exact words that A had written in his/her text.

"After that, it has never stopped," I added.

"You mean that this person send you texts all the time?" Ezra asked.

I sighed, "Yes!" I confessed.

"But what does this person want?" Ezra asked me, furrowing his brows.

If only I knew the answer. It has been the point since the beginning. What did A want? Why did he/she hate us so much?

"We don't know, but he/she seems determined to ruin our lives," I replied.

"And you and your friends have no idea who this person is?" Ezra asked.

I shook my head in negation. "No! Not at all! "

"That's crazy!" Ezra said, amazed. He kept silence for a moment, thinking, and then looked at me in the eyes.

"It's why you blackmailed Jackie, because A forced you, right?" He asked me. I felt myself blushing with shame. I was still ashamed of what I had done even if I had been forced.

"Yes, A told me to do it; the girls also got a kind of mission. A was threatening Dr. Sullivan's life, we didn't have a choice, if we hadn't done it, A could have killed her," I let out.

"What? This person is totally insane," Ezra exclaimed, shocked. "Do you thing A would have been able to do what he had threatened to do?

"Oh, yes, trust me. A hasn't hesitated to hit Hanna with his/ her car," I said. I didn't want to tell him that A was the one who had set fire to the house where I had almost died.

"Wait a minute! Hanna's accident, it was A?" Ezra said, confusion all over his face.

"Yes, A thought that Hanna had discovered his identity and I guess he/she wanted to make her keep her mouth shut," I replied, remembering this horrible night.

"Oh my god, Aria why…." He suddenly stopped as if something had hit him. He looked at me with his eyes wide open, shocked.

"Aria, the fire in Spencer's lake house, it was A too, wasn't it?" Ezra asked me.

I couldn't lie. I bit my lower lip before replying even if I knew he was just waiting for a confirmation.

"Yes, it was A," I confessed in a whisper.

All of a sudden, Ezra got up from the couch. "God, we need to call the police!"

"Ezra, no, we can't!" I objected, panicked.

"But Aria, he tried to kill you and your friend Hanna!" Ezra yelled. I got up too and joined him.

"You don't understand, A knows so many things about us. He/she knows about what the girls and I did to Jenna, and he also knows a lot of very important things about my friends or about their families. And, Ezra, he/she knows about us, he has proofs, you could go to jail!" I said, feeling the tears fighting their way forward at this thought.

Ezra shook his head. "I don't care if it means that you're safe," he told me.

"No, Ezra, please, we can't call the police," I insisted.

"And what do you want me to do? Nothing and wait until I receive a phone call from one of your friends, telling me that you have been killed?" Ezra said.

"Ezra, please, calm down, it's not going to happen," I tried to reassure him even if I wasn't so sure about that.

"How can you say that, Aria? This person is visibly totally mad, it's not some fake threats, he/she is a murderer! He is dangerous!" Ezra said.

"I know, Ezra, but calling the police would just make things worse, we don't have any idea who this person is, it's not as if we could tell the police who A is so they can arrest him. We don't even have a single clue! If you call the police they will search and A will find out that we have talked! Do you imagine what he/she could do? It would make him/her even more dangerous," I explained to Ezra.

Ezra opened his mouth to protest but nothing came out as if he knew that I was right. I closed the gap between the two of us and gently took his hands between mine.

"Ezra, you have to trust me, it's the right thing to do," I told him. He looked at me and shook his head.

"But, Aria, I can't stay here without doing anything while someone is threatening your life!" He said.

"I know you're worried for my safety, and I do understand that, it was because I was worried for yours, that I chose to keep all of this for myself," I said.

"You should have told me, Aria," said Ezra. I could see in his eyes that he was angry even if he was trying hard to hide it. I perfectly understood, I have kept something really important from him and I had lied to him many times to protect my secret.

"I'm sorry, but I didn't want A to hurt you," I justified myself. Ezra took his hands away from mine and turned his back on me before walking toward the window. I joined him but stayed behind him as he kept staring through the window.

"I understand why you're upset but I just wanted to protect you, that's all," I hesitantly said.

He turned over to face me.

"I get it, Aria. But seriously, you should have told me! We are a couple, we shouldn't keep these kinds of things from each other. I mean, damn it, it's extremely important! I just would have wanted to know that the girl I loved was harassed by some kind of psycho!" Ezra said.

"I'm sorry," I said, once again, because it was the only thing I could say.

"I knew that something was going on in your life but I had no idea that it could be so dangerous," he added.

"Yes, I know you're shocked, but everything I did was to keep A out of your life but apparently it wasn't enough because A has just ruined your job," I said.

"I don't care about this job; I will find another one, my only preoccupation is you and your safety!" Ezra told me, glaring at me in the eyes.

I was about to say something when a phone ring filled the air. I was confused at first, not recognizing the sound but I suddenly remembered that it was the phone that Hanna had lent me at school until I buy a new one.

"Is it A?" Ezra asked me with an alarmed tone as I was looking at the pink phone screen.

"No, don't worry, it's just Emily," I said.

Ezra inhaled and ran his fingers through his dark and wavy hair.

"So, is it how it's going to be?" He said.

I frowned, confused. "What do you mean?"

"Am I going to be scared every time I hear your phone ring? Am I going to freak out every time you're late or every time you don't answer your phone because I will be afraid that this psycho finally killed you? Ezra said, desperate.

"Ezra, look, we will find out who this person is so the nightmare will end up," I told him.

Ezra shook his head. "How do you know that? How can you be sure that this person won't win the game that he is playing?" Ezra said.

The truth is: I wasn't sure at all. I had no idea of how long it would take us to find out the truth but especially I wasn't sure at all that we would even find out the truth.

"I know we will," I simply replied. "I don't want you to worry about me, I will be fine!"

"How do you want me not to worry about you? This person is obviously totally crazy and dangerous. He tried to kill Hanna and you, and maybe he killed your friend Ali. Have you ever thought about it?" Ezra asked me.

"No, A is not the one who killed Ali," I said, remembering the dream I had had while I was in the hospital. "Don't ask me how I know that, I know it, that's all!"

As Ezra shook his head, I placed my hands on the both sides of his face, and looked at him in the eyes.

"Ezra, it's going to be okay," I reassured him.

He brushed my cheek with his thumb, looking at me with love and anxiety.

"I just want you to be safe," he told me.

"I know, but you have to promise me not to call the cops," I asked him, pleadingly.

Ezra looked away, biting his lip.

"Ezra, please," I begged.

He looked back at me and sighed. "Fine, I won't call them, but I want you to tell me when something happens, I don't want you to keep me out of your life anymore," he told me.

Now that I had told him everything, I didn't see why I would lie to him again.

"I promise you that I will tell you everything from now on," I promised Ezra. I glanced at my watch. It was getting late and I knew that my parents were going to worry.

"I'm sorry but I have to go," I told Ezra.

"I'm going to bring you home," Ezra said, taking his keys.

"Ezra, it's alright, you don't need to! Plus, I don't want my father to freak out if he sees you," I told him. I could perfectly picture my father, red with rage if he saw me in Ezra's car.

"No, I prefer to drop you home so I will be sure that you're safe, I can drop you a few blocks away from your house so your father won't see me," Ezra said.

I knew I wouldn't succeed to make him change his minds so I didn't even try.

"Fine, let's go!" I said, making my way toward the door, followed by Ezra.

* * *

**Ezra's POV**

"Send me a text when you're home, please" I told Aria before she got out of my car as I was parked along the sidewalk, a block away from the Montgomery's house.

"Ezra, I'm just a block away from my house, I will be home in barely ten minutes," she replied.

"Yes, I know but, please do it, it would reassure me," I told her. I was aware that it was ridiculous; she wasn't going to send me a text every time she would get out, but I needed to be reassured; I needed to know that she was perfectly safe, at least for this night.

"Okay, I'll send you a text as soon as I get home," she replied, surely aware of my anxiety. She gave me a peck on the lips and was about to leave when I stopped her.

"Wait!" I told her. She stopped and I leaned to kiss her once again.

I reluctantly pulled away a few seconds later and stared into her hazel eyes.

"Be careful," I told her. She gently nodded and got out of the car. I watched her walking until she was out of eyesight before starting my car.

On the way up to my apartment, I couldn't stop thinking about what Aria had told me.

How could I have been blind enough not to guess what was going on? Aria and I were dating for months and during all this time A had been harassing her and I had never had any suspicion! I couldn't help but blame myself; I should have guessed before; it was obvious that something was wrong in her life. I didn't even understand how she was still able to handle the situation. She was only sixteen and her best friend had been murdered, she was being harassed by someone who had almost killed her and she was in a very complicated relationship with her former teacher. But despite all of the things she had to deal with, she had always been the one who had fought for our relationship; she had never given up on us contrary to me.

As soon as I entered my apartment I grabbed my cell phone which was on the table, and saw that Aria had kept her promise.

_**I'm home, everything's fine! See you soon!**_

_**I love you**_

_**Aria**_

I sighed in relief, relieved to know that she was safe and quickly wrote an answer.

_**Ok, thanks for the text.**_

_**I love you too**_

_**Have a good night,**_

_**Ezra**_

I had barely pressed the sent touch that my phone buzzed, announcing a new text. Astonished by Aria's rapidity, I opened the text and had to read it at least four times before I understood what it meant. The text wasn't from Aria but from a person who was inevitably going to be a part of my life from now on.

**_Dear Mr. Fitz,_**

**_I heard that your girlfriend had told you everything about me._**

**_So, welcome to the game! But remember, it's my game so I pick the rules! And the number 1 is: keep your mouth shut or your precious Aria will end up like her best friend = in a grave!_**

**_Your new friend,_**

**_A_**

* * *

** A/N : So, Ezra finally knows everything, I hope you liked this chapter, tell me what you think in a review, please.**

**And happy pretty little liars day ^^ **

**Unfortunately, I have to wait until tomorrow to watch it :(**

**xoxo**


	15. Chapter 15

**Thank you so much for your reviews.**

* * *

**Chapter fifteen**

**Aria's POV**

A few days had passed since I had told Ezra about A, we hadn't seen each other during this time, because of school, but I was aware that this revelation had affected him a lot. He was trying his best to hide it but I knew he was extremely worried about me. He sent me more messages than usual, generally to ask me if I had had a good day but I knew that the real thing he wanted to know was if I was perfectly safe. I still didn't know if I had made the right choice by telling him everything. It was, of course, a huge relief to finally be able to be honest with him, I had lied to him so much since the beginning, and even if it was to protect him, it hadn't been easy and I had felt guilty so many times. Now, it was over, I didn't have to lie to him anymore but I also had to live with the thought that A could now hurt him.

A knock at my bedroom door pulled me out of my thoughts.

"Yes?"

A second later my father entered my bedroom, smiling.

"Hey, sweetie! I was thinking, I'm going to drop your brother off at his soccer practice, maybe you could come with me and after that we could spend time together. I don't know, we could go to eat an ice cream like we used to do before. What do you think? We haven't spent time together in a very long time." My father asked me, smiling.

I sighed. Yes, we used to do that, before! Before I spotted him kissing Meredith in his car, before he asked me to lie to my mother, before he tried to destroy my relationship with Ezra, before! So many things had changed these past two years and I knew that nothing would ever be the same. I couldn't act with my father as if everything was alright. I couldn't pretend that nothing had happened, that he hadn't cheated on my mother, that he hadn't threatened to send Ezra to jail, that he hadn't managed to send him away from me. I just couldn't.

"I'm sorry; Dad, but I have other plans!" I replied.

Actually, I was going to see Ezra like I used to do every Saturday. We had planned to order Chinese and to spend the afternoon together.

"Oh," my father said, disappointed. "What kind of plans?" He asked me.

"Hum, I'm going to see the girls," I replied, hoping he wasn't going to insist or to get suspicious. He still didn't know that Ezra and I were back together and I didn't want it to change.

I should have known that it was an illusion.

"All the day?" He asked me, suspicious.

"Yes, we have a lot of things to do," I replied, getting annoyed by his questions.

"And what have you planned to do?" He asked me.

"Seriously, Dad? " I said.

"I just want to know, that's all! Why don't you to tell me?" He insisted.

"Dad…"

"You're seeing him again, aren't you?" My father said.

There we were. The same discussions, over and over again.

_You were with him, weren't you? _

_You saw him? Don't lie to me, I know you did! _

_Where are you coming from? _

_Where are you going?_

_I don't want you to see him again, do you hear me?_

_I'm going to call the cops!_

It was always the same words, the same threats, and the same angry face every time, and I was tired of this.

"Dad, this is getting ridiculous," I told him, coldly.

"Answer me, Aria," my father said, sternly.

"I have to go," I said, passing next to him and making my way toward the staircase.

"Aria, stop! We need to talk!" My father said.

I stopped in the middle of the staircase and faced my father.

"And about what, Dad? About how you are going to call the cops if I keep seeing Ezra?" I said, raising my voice.

"Oh, so you admit that you're still seeing him?" My father said.

I clenched my teeth together. "You're unbelievable!" I snapped at him.

"Don't talk to me like this!" My father replied, raising his voice.

"What is going on, again?" My mother asked at the bottom of the stairs, interrupting our argument.

"I just want Aria to be honest! I want her to tell me that she's still seeing Ezra!" My father told my mom.

She shook her head. "Byron, we seriously need to talk! We can't continue like that! I'm really fed up with this situation!" My mother said.

"Aria, you can go, your father and I need to talk!" My mom told me.

I nodded and made my way toward the door as my mother went upstairs to join my father.

_I'm sick of that, Byron! _I heard my mom say a few seconds later.

As I left the house, I could feel the tears forming in my eyes at the thought that my parents were probably going to get into a fight because of me.

I had never wanted that. I didn't want to tear my family apart but I couldn't give up on Ezra either, it wasn't an option. I wished the things could go back to how they used to be. But I knew it would never happen. Sometimes, when something is broken, we can't repair it no matter how hard we try and it's exactly what was happening with my life. Too many things had happened and nothing would ever be the same.

* * *

"Hey, you!" Ezra said before pulling me into a kiss when I entered his apartment. I smiled at him and he pressed his lips against mine. I immediately traced his lower lip with my tongue and he opened his mouth a little wider, allowing me entry. I hadn't seen him for five days and even if it wasn't such a long time, I had missed him. I had always made fun of the girls who couldn't spend a few days without their boyfriends, but now, I was one of them.

Our tongues fought for dominance during a long moment but he suddenly pulled away.

"What's wrong?" I asked him, furrowing my brows.

He looked at me with a serious face and bit his lip. "I need to tell you something, Aria!"

"Yes, what is it?" I asked, alarmed by his tone.

"He contacted me!" Ezra said.

"Who?" I asked, totally confused.

"A!" Ezra replied causing me to get pale.

"What?" I asked, my eyes wide open.

"Five day ago, the day you told me everything, A sent me a message," Ezra explained to me.

" But- but why didn't you tell me before?" I said, stunned.

"I didn't want to tell you that on the phone, it's something I needed to tell you face to face," he replied.

"Show me the text, please," I asked him.

"You know, it's not that bad..." Ezra said.

"Ezra, please, I need to see the text!" I begged him.

Ezra sighed and took his phone out of his pocket before giving it to me. I grabbed the phone nervously and looked at the screen.

"Oh God!" I let out as I read the text. A had sent us a lot of horrible texts but this one was definitely one of the worst.

"I shouldn't have told you! Now A is going to be on your back too!" I said as the tears filled my eyes.

"No, Aria, I don't want you to think that, you did the right thing," Ezra said.

"But now you are in danger too," I told him.

He closed the gap between us and lifted my chin to look at me in the eyes.

"Aria, look, I'm glad you told me, and I don't want you to regret it. I want to be here for you no matter what, we can face it together," he told me, caressing my cheek.

"But if something happened to you, I would never forgive myself," I said, a tear rolling down my cheek at this thought.

Ezra brushed my cheek with his thumb to wipe my tear. "Nothing will happen to me, A doesn't seem to want to hurt me, it's you that he threatened in his text. If there is one person who should be worried for the other it's me!" Ezra told me.

I wasn't so sure about that, I knew A wouldn't hesitate to hurt Ezra.

"Come on, for now, we're both safe, let's enjoy this day," Ezra added, smiling tenderly to me.

After a few seconds, I smiled too and closed the gap between us before pressing my lips on his while my hands began to remove his tie.

"What are you doing? " Ezra asked me, breathless. "I thought we had planned to…"

"Shh," I interrupted him. "This is my way to enjoy the day!" I replied before kissing him once again.

This idea probably sounded good to him because he immediately lowered his arms down my waist, allowing me to wrap my legs around his waist, before carrying me to his bed.

* * *

I came back home just before dinner. After our hot make out session, Ezra and I had had lunch and we had spent the afternoon watching movies in each other's arms. It had felt good to have a good time after all that had happened. Ezra was still my safe place to land and the only one who was able to make me forget my problems.

When I entered my house, my father was sitting on the sofa, reading a book. I passed next to him without even greeting him, still upset by our recent fight. I was about to get upstairs when he stopped me.

"Aria, wait, we need to talk!" He told me. I stopped and clenched my teeth together.

"About what?" I coldly asked .

"Sit down, please!" My father simply replied.

I complied and biliously sat down in the armchair in front of him, waiting for him to talk.

"When you left this morning, your mother and I talked for a long time about you and your relationship with Ezra," he began.

What? Had he said Ezra's name instead of _him_ or _this man_?

"And?" I said.

"She is sick of our fights about this subject and so am I," my father said.

I rolled my eyes.

"Oh, I know what you think, but believe it or not, I don't like to fight with you. Your mother is right, we can't continue like that. It's why I made a decision!" he said.

I twisted my fingers nervously. It wasn't good, it wasn't good at all.

"Which is?" I nervously asked.

My father took a deep breath as if he was about to say the most difficult thing that he had ever said.

I couldn't help digging my nails into my palm as a lot of things came to my mind. Was he going to send me away in a boarding school? Was he going to tell me that he would call the cops?

Yes, so many things were running in my mind except the one he told me.

"I'm going to let you see Ezra!" My father let out causing me to look at him in astonishment. I couldn't believe that my father had just said that.

"What?" I asked, shocked.

"You can see him if you want. I'm not going to create a scene anymore," he said.

A smile spread across my face. I couldn't believe what I was hearing.

"You mean that you're okay with my relationship with Ezra?" I said, smiling.

"It's not what I said. I said that you could see him but I'm going to make myself clear, I'm not okay with this relationship and I will never be," he told me, looking at me in the eyes.

I was totally confused. "But…"

"Look, Aria, I tried to warn you in order to protect you, but you haven't listened to me, now, I can't keep fighting with you for that. I can't let this family fall apart once again. So you can see him but don't expect me to invite him for dinner or even to talk to him," my father said.

"Dad…" I began

"I know you think that what you have with him is real, and how to blame you!" My father interrupted me. "But I just hope that one day you will realize that I was right. He succeeded to convince your mother but he won't succeed with me. I know exactly what he wants; men like him just want one thing, and trust me, it isn't love!" My father said.

"You're wrong, Dad, Ezra isn't one of these men! You don't even know him!" I said, angry that my father could say such a thing. I knew that Ezra wasn't this kind of guys.

My father shook his head. "Aria, there is nothing you can say that will make me change my mind. I told you, you can see him but I don't want him in my house. I don't trust him, that's all!" My father said, sternly.

I was about to say something but he got out from the couch.

"Now, I'm going to lay the table, your mother and Mike will be home soon," he said, making his way toward the kitchen.

I stayed sitting on the sofa, still shocked by the conversation we had just had. I was upset that my father could think that Ezra was just a jerk who was using me, but I had to focus on the positive thing. He accepted that I see Ezra. I wouldn't have to lie all the time anymore, I was going to be able to see him as often as I wanted. And we were going to be able to be public. Public, really? A smile crossed my face at this thought. I should have defended Ezra better than I did, but I didn't want to push my father. One step at a time. He would come around and see that Ezra wasn't the jerk he thought he was.

As I was still thinking of the conversation my father and I had just had, something that he had said about Ezra brought me back two years ago, and Alison's angelic face came immediately to my mind.

"_It sucks!" I complained, letting myself fall onto Alison's bed. We were coming from a party that, Lindsey, a senior had organized. Even if we hadn't been invited, Alison had managed to get us an invitation and my __parents being out of town for one of Mike's games, I was spending the night at Ali's house._

"_What?" Alison asked me. She was sitting at her old dressing-table, brushing her long blond hair._

"_Noel didn't even notice me, tonight. He was too focused on Shirley!" I said with a grimace of disgust._

_She turned over to face me. "Because her skirt was shorter than my panties! He is a pig, trust me, you're better without him!" Alison said._

_I looked at her astonished. "I don't understand, you were the one who wanted me with him, you had even managed to make him break up with his ex-girlfriend!" I said._

"_Well, I guess I was wrong! He is a pig, like all the boys! There is just one thing they want and, once they got it, they ditch you!" Alison said, shaking her head._

"_Did this happen to you?" I asked. I was under the impression that she was talking about something that had happened to her._

_She kept brushing her hair and, for a short second, I saw the sadness in her eyes, in the mirror reflection, but when she turned over to look at me, she was smiling widely._

"_Of course not! Who would want to ditch me? Honey, I'm Alison Dilaurentis! Any guy would be lucky to have me!" Alison replied with her usual modesty._

I had never thought again of this conversation. But now, with the new elements that the girls and I had, like the fact that Alison was seeing someone before her death, I was sure that this day, Alison was talking about someone, someone who had hurt her and maybe not only sentimentally.

* * *

**A/N : So, what do you think?**

**Deemi, you asked me a question: **When r we gonna find who A is? **So, I would say soon, I don't know exactly when but soon and after A, I will reveal who killed Alison but I don't want to rush the story, so patience! :)**

**I have something to ask you. I'd planned to make a chapter with Ezra's mother but, as it will happen in the show next week maybe you're not interested, even if it will be different of course. I have already written it but if you don't want it I can change the chapter. All you have to do is tell me if you want me to upload this chapter or not.**

**I'm sorry if I made a lot of mistake, I just got my wisdom teeth removed and it's so painful, I can't even think straight.**

**Xoxo**


	16. Chapter 16

**Thank you so much for your reviews!**

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**Chapter sixteen**

**Aria's POV**

"Where are you going, honey?" My mother asked me, the following day, when I entered the living room, ready to go see Ezra.

As my father was sitting next to her, reading the newspaper, I was about to lie when I remembered my last conversation with him. I didn't have to lie anymore.

"Hum, to see Ezra," I replied. It felt so strange to say this sentence in front of my father.

"Oh, okay, have a good day!" My mother told me, smiling.

"Thanks, Mom!"

I glanced at my father who hadn't turned his look away from his newspaper as if I hadn't said anything.

"Bye, Dad," I said.

"Hum, yes, bye," he replied, his eyes still on the newspaper as my mom rolled her eyes.

I left the house and got into my car before making my way toward Ezra's apartment.

* * *

"I have something to tell you!" I told Ezra as soon as I entered his place.

"Is it A? Did he send you another text? Did something happen?" Ezra asked me, totally worried.

"Ezra, calm down! It's not A, don't worry! Actually it's a good new!" I said, smiling. Ezra seemed surprised. Of course, with our complicated lives, a good new was pretty rare.

"What is it?" He asked me, intrigued.

I couldn't help the smile which crossed my face at this instant. "My father agreed to let me see you!"

"Are you kidding?" Ezra asked me, his eyes wide open in disbelief.

"No, it's true! He informed me of his new resolution yesterday when I got back home!" I explained to him.

"Do you know what made him change his mind?" Ezra asked me.

"Well, my mom talked to him, she was tired of our incessant fights, so he complied!" I said, smiling.

"Wow! That's great! Maybe I should talk to him to thank him or something!" Ezra said.

"I don't think that it's such a good idea," I told him, remembering my father's warning about how he didn't want anything to do with Ezra.

"Why? He made a huge effort, I think it would be great to have a discussion with him" Ezra insisted.

"Yes, but, he agrees to let me see you but it doesn't mean that he agrees with us," I hesitantly said.

"Okay, I get it! He still hates me!" Ezra said.

"No, he…." I interrupted myself when I realized that there was nothing I could say. Ezra was totally right, my father still hated him.

"It's alright, Aria," Ezra said. "I think I can deal with that!"

"But, it's already a great thing! Now we're going to be able to see each other without lying, and especially we're going to be able to get out of your apartment!" I said excited at the thought.

Ezra laughed at my enthusiasm. "My apartment isn't that bad!"

"I did not say that, but it would be nice to go out see a movie or go to a restaurant like a normal couple!" I said. I smiled at the thought of Ezra and me on a date, holding hands in the street like everybody.

"Yes, it would be great but, you know, there are things that we can only do in this little apartment!" Ezra seductively said.

"Oh really? What kind of things?" I said, feigning ignorance.

He took a step toward me and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulling me flush against his body.

"This," he said before placing hot open-mouthed kisses on the side of my neck, causing me to groan.

I tangled my hands in his wavy dark hair, moaning loudly when his soft lips found an incredibly sensitive spot. Ezra gave up my neck and found my mouth, immediately slipping his tongue in my waiting mouth.

Still kissing each other, we walked toward the bed where we fell together. We pulled away from our hungry kisses only to permit Ezra to remove my little black top as I unbuttoned his white shirt. His hands slipped along my body, caressing my bare skin and sending shivers throughout my body. He finally reached my beige skirt and pulled it down my body. His lips went down my collarbone and I arched my back when he kissed the exposed skin of my breast all along the edge of my bra. I was undoing his belt when he suddenly pulled away.

"Aria, stop!" Ezra suddenly said, breathless.

"What?" I asked, totally astonished that he wanted to stop at such a moment.

"I don't have any condom!" He said.

"You're not serious, are you?" I asked him.

Ezra gave me an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, sweetheart," Ezra apologized.

"God, you must be kidding me!" I said, frustration in my voice.

"I'm going to the store, I will be right back!" He gave me a kiss on my forehead and quickly passed his shirt before leaving the apartment.

I groaned, pressing my thighs together to calm the throbbing which had begun to increase between my legs, mentally cursing Ezra for his negligence.

Suddenly my phone ring filled the apartment, announcing a text. Reluctantly, I got up and walked to the couch where my purse was. I took the phone out of it and looked at the screen.

**Daddy finally complied but good luck with this one! **

**A**

_What the hell? _Was the only thing that I thought when I read A's new text. I had no idea what he/she was talking about. But I would have plenty of time to worry about it later; I didn't want to mess up this day with Ezra. I turned my phone off and put it on the nightstand.

After long minutes which seemed to last hours, I heard a knock at the door. I shook my head and rolled my eyes at the thought that Ezra had probably forgotten his keys.

"Finally! I was about to start without you!" I said, joking as I made my way toward the door.

I opened the door and the grin which was spreading across my face immediately vanished when I saw a middle-aged woman in front of me.

"Hello!" The woman said. My cheeks turned bright red at the thought that the woman had surely heard me say what I had said a few minutes ago.

"It's Ezra's apartment, isn't it?" She asked me, looking at me weirdly. I suddenly realized that I was wearing only my panties and my little top that I had, fortunately, put on before opening the door.

"Yes, it is," I confirmed.

"And you are?" she asked me. I couldn't help being annoyed by the woman's tone. I didn't need to justify myself for being in my boyfriend's apartment. I was the one who should have asked the question.

"I'm Aria, his girlfriend!" I replied. "And you?" I asked with the same tone she had used.

"I'm Dianne, his mother!" She replied causing my cheeks to turn redder if it was even possible.

This couldn't be happening! I couldn't be standing in front of Ezra's mother, wearing only my underwear and after having said what I had said. There was no way she could misinterpret my words.

"I'm… I'm sorry, I didn't know," I stuttered, uncomfortable.

We stayed staring at each other during a few seconds; I was totally paralyzed and unable to say anything.

"Can I come in?" Ezra's mother asked, pulling me out of my trance.

"Of, yes, sure, I'm sorry, come in," I said, stepping to the side to allow her entrance.

"Ezra went to the store to buy…something, but he will be right back," I added.

She came in and looked around; I didn't miss the disapproving look she had when she noticed my skirt on the floor and the sheets already untidy. It was when I realized that I was still wearing only my panties.

"I'm so sorry, I'm going to…" I managed to say, pointing to my skirt on the floor.

"Yes, I think it's a good idea," Ezra's mother replied.

"I will be right back," I said, quickly picking up my skirt before going to the bathroom.

As soon as I closed the door, I pressed my back against the wall and closed my eyes. It was horrible. I couldn't have imagined a worst way to meet Ezra's mom. Actually I had never thought of meeting his family. He rarely spoke about her and the only thing I knew was that his parens had divorced when he was still a kid and that his little brother was a sophomore in college.

I put on my skirt and tried to arrange my messy hair. I felt nauseous at the thought of facing his mother again; but I couldn't let her wait too long. I took a deep breath, trying to build my courage and got out of the bathroom, hoping that Ezra would be back as soon as possible.

Ezra's mother was looking through the window, her arms crossed on her chest. I had never seen any photo of her before but she was a beautiful woman. She was tall and thin and her long hair that she was wearing in a bun made her very elegant.

"Can I make you some coffee or tea?" I offered. She turned over to look at me and I couldn't help but feel judged when she stared at me.

"Tea, please," she replied. I smiled and filled the teapot with water.

"So, how did you meet my son?" She asked me as I was putting the teapot on the gas.

I felt panic rising in me. I didn't know what to say, it wasn't something I should do by myself, Ezra needed to be there.

"It's a long story," I replied, wavering slightly.

"Oh, I bet it is!" Ezra's mother said. The way she had said that made me wonder if she knew more than she pretended.

"Ezra should be here soon," I told her.

I had barely finished my sentence that we heard the key in the lock.

"Sorry, sweetheart, seems like the entire town has decided to go to the drugstore today!" Ezra said when he entered the apartment, pulling a box of condoms out of a plastic bag.

"Hello, son!" Her mother said causing Ezra to stop immediately.

I thought it couldn't be worse but I was wrong. Now Ezra was standing in front of her mother, a box of condoms in his hands.

"Mother!" Ezra said totally astonished, quickly hiding the box of condoms in the plastic bag.

"What are you doing here?" he asked his mother, blushing.

"Well, I had to see a friend of mine in Phyllis so I thought that it would be nice to see my boy at the same time. Your….girlfriend, Ariel, received me!" Ezra's mother said.

Ezra finally looked at me and I smiled, but I knew he was aware of how nervous I was.

"Actually, it's Aria, Mom," Ezra corrected her.

"Oh, yes, right, Aria, sorry," Ezra's mother said with a smile. I didn't want to be paranoid but her smile seemed as fake as the pink hair I used to wear a few years ago.

"I was making some tea for your mother, do you want something too?" I asked Ezra.

"No, thanks," he told me, smiling at me.

"I hope I don't impose myself, I don't want to interfere with your…. plans," Ezra's mother said. I knew that she exactly knew what kind of plans Ezra and I had.

"Oh, no, that's okay!" Ezra said, blushing.

During a few seconds no one said a word and I suddenly felt very uncomfortable.

"Maybe I should go, you two have probably a lot of things to talk about, I don't want to impose myself!" I said.

Ezra shook his head. "No, Aria, stay, you don't have to leave," he told me.

"Actually, I think she's right, we have a lot of things to discuss," Ezra's mother said. It was obvious that she didn't want me to stay.

"But…" Ezra began to insist.

"It's alright, Ezra! I have some things to do anyway. I will call you later," I said.

"Okay, then!" Ezra said, kissing me gently on the cheek.

"Mrs. Fitz, it was a pleasure to meet you," I told Ezra's mother before shaking her hand.

"Yeah, you too!" She replied.

"Maybe we will have the occasion to talk again soon," I added.

"Yes, maybe," she said, insisting on the second word. I nodded, took my phone and my purse and made my way toward the door. I was about to open it when Ezra stopped me.

"Aria, are you really sure that you want to leave?" He insisted once again.

"Oh, come on, Ezra, let her go, she has probably a lot of high school homework to do, right?" Ezra's mother suddenly said.

I looked at her shocked. I didn't know that Ezra had told her that I was still in high school and when I met his look I saw that he was as surprised as me. But if he hadn't told her so who had done it?

Her question wasn't innocent. There was something in the way she had asked it which was clearly ironic. It was as if she wanted to remind me that I was nothing more than a high school student.

"Yes," I replied. She smiled once again and I left Ezra's apartment.

I closed the door and like I had done a few minutes earlier in the bathroom, I pressed my back against the door, trying to keep back the tears that were threatening to escape.

My mind could only think one thing at this instant: _she hates me!_

* * *

**So, as several people told me they wanted it, I posted the chapter with Ezra's mother, in the next chapter you will have the conversation between Ezra and his mom.**

**So what do you think? Every girl dreams of meeting her boyfriend's mother like that, right? lol**

**Please review, I would love to reach 100 reviews, please?**

**xoxo**


	17. Chapter 17

**Thank you so much for the reviews, I reached 100 reviews and more so thank you, I really appreciate it.**

* * *

**Chapter seventeen**

**Ezra's POV**

As soon as I heard Aria's footsteps on the staircase, I turned to face my mother who was standing behind me, her arms crossed on her chest. I hadn't expected her at all and I was sorry that Aria had to meet her in these circumstances. After what she had said about Aria's homework, there were no doubts that she knew about Aria's age.

"She's lovely; I don't understand why you haven't introduced her to me before!" My mother began. "Oh, right, maybe because she's still in high school!"

"How do you know that? I have never told you!" I asked my mom, intrigued.

Actually, I had never told her about Aria, she knew that I was seeing someone but I hadn't told her anything else. Every time we talked on the phone, I wanted to tell her about this amazing girl who made me more happy than I had never been, but then I remembered that I would have to tell her the whole story, that she had been my student, that she was sixteen and that she was still in high school. I wasn't ashamed of her but this wasn't something that I could tell my mother on the phone, I wanted to wait to tell her face to face.

"Yes, and you should have!" She said, angrily.

"You haven't answered my question, how do you know?" I insisted. I didn't see how she could know about us as I haven't told anybody except Hardy, even my brother didn't know.

"Jackie called me! She said you were in serious troubles, it's why I came!" My mom replied.

"Jackie?" I said, feeling my voice rising in anger. Why did this woman keep making my life a living hell? How dared she call my mother? I couldn't believe that, once again, she had tried to ruin my relationship with Aria.

"Yes, we're still in touch!" My mother replied. Jackie had been the one who had broken off our engagement and my mother knew how sad I had been, I couldn't understand how she could still talk to her after what she had done.

"I can't believe she called you! She should stop putting her nose into someone else's business!" I said, mentally cursing Jackie.

"She did it because she cares about you, she's a great girl, and I'm glad she did! When did you want to tell me the truth?" She asked me.

"I was waiting for the right moment!" I said.

My mother let out a chuckle. "The right moment? I don't think that there is a right moment for that!"

"Mother, I…." I began to say.

"A high school student, really, Ezra?" My mother said, interrupting me.

"Look, Mother, I know what you think but Aria and I, it's real!" I said.

"Real? Ezra, she's a teenager. Jackie also told me that she had been your student. How could you do that?" My mom told me, anger and disappointment filling her voice.

"It just happened, okay? I didn't choose to fall in love with her but I did!" I replied, trying to justify myself.

My mother shook her head. "You're so much like your father; you see a girl with a pretty face and it's enough to make you lose your mind!" She told me.

My parents had never told my brother and me why they had divorced but I wasn't naïf, I knew this had something to do with my father's inability to control himself in front of a pretty girl. But I wasn't like him; Aria wasn't just a distraction.

"Mother! Please, I love her!" I said, I couldn't let her think that I was using her only for sex.

"You love her? Ezra, stop being so ridiculous! Do you think you have a future with her? She's a child, in a few months she will go to college and find another boy her own age!" My mother snapped at me.

"Don't say that, Aria is not like that. We love each other!" I defended her.

Once again, my mother let out a chuckle.

"You're so stupid, Ezra! You're twenty four for God's sake! It's high time for you to be responsible! Look at you, you haven't any job and you're making out with a high school girl who has been your student!" My mother told me. I could see in her eyes that she was ashamed of me and this hurt me.

"I will find another job, don't worry about that!" I told her. "And if you tried to know her better, you would love Aria, she's great!" I told her.

"But I don't want to know her better! And isn't she one of the girls who had been charged with the murder of this poor kid?" My mother asked me, referencing to Alison Dilaurentis's murder.

"Yes, but she didn't do it! It was a mistake! " I said, defending Aria.

"Anyway, this girl will only get you in troubles!" She said.

"Mother, please, try to understand, I'm in love with her!" I told her.

"Try to understand? But, Ezra, she is a child and you were her teacher! I'm sorry I can't give you my blessing! It's wrong and totally stupid!" My mom said, sternly.

This time I couldn't contain the anger that was rising inside me.

"I'm so tired of hearing people tell me that it's wrong! Maybe it isn't the most conventional relationship but she is the person I want to be with!" I told her.

My mom shook her head.

"That's ridiculous. And her parents what do they think?" She asked me.

"Well, they were angry at first but her mother came around, and Aria told me this morning that her father, Byron, had finally agreed to let her see me," I told my mother.

"It's unbelievable! How can they be okay with that? Are you all crazy? My mother shouted.

"Mother, look, I know you're shocked but I really love Aria, trust me I tried many times to stay away from her but I didn't succeed. I love her and I want to be with her," I said, trying to convince my mother.

"Listen to me, Ezra; I haven't paid your studies to let you mess up everything because you can't keep your fly closed in front of this little opportunist!" She said, spitefully.

"Mother, that's enough!" I snapped at her. "Don't talk about her like that, I told you, I love her and you must accept that because it's not going to change, I will stay with Aria no matter what; I'm not a kid anymore, you have nothing to say!" I replied.

"You're not a kid but you're dating one!" My mother shouted.

"Oh, please, stop saying that, Aria is not a kid!" I replied, getting angry. I was so fed up with people who kept telling me that she was just a kid. She was young but she was more mature than the other girls of her age.

"Do you think of our family? What do you think they will think of you?" My mother asked me.

"Oh, so it's that! You're afraid of what they will think! As usual!" I told my mother.

"No, all I want is to protect you. This girl will ruin your life and I can't let her do that! My mother snapped at me again.

"Aria will never ruin my life, she's making it better. I don't give a shit of what our family thinks about my relationship with Aria, and I won't let anybody ruin what I have with her! There is nothing you can do and if you're not able to understand that I love her so I don't want you in my life anymore!" I told my mother.

"Unbelievable! You choose this girl over your own family? She really made you lose your minds!" My mother said.

"Mother, you should go now. We have nothing to say to each other anymore!" I told her, trying to control myself.

"Fine, I'm leaving, but it's not over; I'm not going to let her ruin my family!" My mother said before leaving my apartment, angrier than ever.

* * *

**Aria's POV**

After leaving Ezra's apartment, I went straight to Hanna's where we had planned to meet. I still couldn't believe that I had met Ezra's mother in such circumstances. It couldn't have been worse. I was sure that she already hated me. Even if she was smiling, I hadn't missed the way she had looked at me, she had looked at me as if I was a cockroach who was going to ruin her son's life and that she had to crush as soon as possible.

"Hey, Aria!" Hanna greeted me when she opened the door. "Em and Spence are upstairs but we weren't expecting you until this afternoon," she told me.

"Hum, yes, Ezra received a visit so I left," I replied, not wanting to talk about my disastrous meeting with his mother. To my relief, Hanna didn't ask any questions and I followed her upstairs to join the girls.

"Aria?" Emily pulled me out of my thoughts a few moments later. I didn't even know what we were talking about; the only thing I could think about was my disastrous meeting with Ezra's mother.

"Sorry, what?" I said.

"Okay, what's going on? You have been dreaming since you arrived!" Spencer asked me.

I sighed. "She hates me!" I replied.

The girls frowned, looking at me, intrigued: "Who?" they all asked at the same time.

"Ezra's mother!" I replied.

"What? He introduced you to his mother?" Emily asked me, smiling.

"Well, not really, she came while he was out," I told them.

"And?" Spencer pushed me to continue.

"It was a complete disaster, guys!" I replied, remembering this awkward moment.

"Why? What happened?" Hanna asked me, intrigued.

"It couldn't have been worse! When I opened the door, I thought it was Ezra, I was with my panties and I said something very inappropriate," I said, blushing at the thought.

"Wait, you mean that you received Ezra's mother in your underwear?" Spencer said.

I nodded; the girls looked at each other and burst out laughing.

"Guys! Please!" I complained.

"At least you didn't have to spent hours wondering what you would wear to meet his mom!" Hanna said causing Emily and Spencer to laugh louder.

"That's not funny at all! She hates me now!" I told them.

"Oh, come on, Aria, I'm sure that you're exaggerating," Emily tried to reassure me.

"No, I'm not, you should have seen the way she looked at me and hear what she said at the end," I retorted.

"What did she say?" They asked me.

"Ezra didn't want me to leave but she told him that I probably had a lot of high school homework to do! The way she said that…., I can't explain this but it was clearly to remind me that I was nothing else that a kid," I told them.

"Okay, she hates you!" Hanna exclaimed.

"Han!" Emily and Spencer snapped at her, looking daggers at her.

"What? I don't see the point in lying to her!" Hanna replied.

"She's right, guys, she totally hates me!" I said, sadly.

"Don't worry about that, Aria, after all it doesn't matter, Ezra is a big boy, it's not as if she was going to prevent him from seeing you like your parents did," Emily told me.

I sighed. "Maybe, but she is his mother, I'm sure what she thinks is important to him."

"But what are you afraid of? That she convinces him to break up with you?" Spencer asked me.

The truth was, it was exactly that. I couldn't help but worry that maybe his mother manages to convince him that I wasn't the right person for him. It was a fear which was always with me; I was scared that, one day, he finally realize that I was ruining his life.

"Yes, maybe," I answered.

"Aria, he loves you," Emily said, trying to comfort me.

I was about to say something when my phone rang.

"It's Ezra!" I told the girls, looking at the screen of the pink phone to read the new text. "His mother left and he wants to see me!"

"It's alright, go!" The girls told me.

"Okay, I will call you later," I told them before leaving Hanna's room.

* * *

On the way to Ezra's apartment, I couldn't help but feel nervous. I had no idea what had happened when I had left, but I easily could guess that his mother hadn't given Ezra her blessing. I reached his apartment and I immediately used my key to come in.

"Hey!" Ezra said when he saw me. He walked toward me and gave me a quick peck on the lips.

"I'm sorry for this morning, I didn't know that my mother was coming," he told me.

"I know, I just wish I met her under other circumstances." I told him. "What happened when I left? Did she say something about me or about us?" I nervously asked him. Ezra suddenly seemed uncomfortable and I immediately knew why.

"She hates me, doesn't she?" I asked him even if I was just waiting for a confirmation.

"No, she is just…" Ezra tried to explain without success.

"She hates me! It's okay, Ezra, you can tell me," I sadly said. I sighed and walked to the window. Ezra joined me and put a hand on my shoulder.

"Aria, don't let this affect you," He told me. I turned around to face him.

"I know, but I just feel like the all world is against us and that it will always be like that. My father has finally agreed to let me see you and now it's your mother who thinks that your relationship is a big mistake," I said wistfully.

Ezra got closer to me and put a hand on my cheek. "Look, Aria, I don't care what my mother thinks," he told me.

I shook my head. "Don't say that, she's your mother," I told him.

"Yes, but if she is not able to see how amazing you are and how happy you make me so it's her problem. There is nothing she can say that will make me change my mind about our relationship."

He cupped my face between his hands and looked at me intensively. "There will always be some people who will think that our relationship is wrong or inappropriate but the most important is that you and I know that they are wrong. What we have is real and it feels totally right and I will never let anybody say otherwise," Ezra told me, gently brushing my cheek with his thumb.

"I love you," I told him, smiling gently as the tears filled my eyes.

"I love you too!" He said before pressing his lips against mine.

I tangled my fingers in his hair as I pressed myself even closer to him. His arms wrapped my small waist and I pulled away when his hands reached the hem of my top to permit him to pull it over my head. I unbuttoned his shirt and kissed his neck, causing him to moan softly.

I caressed his muscular torso as our tongues battled for dominance.

He then permitted me to wrap my legs around his waist and he carried me to his bed where we finished what we had begun the same morning.

* * *

**So what do you think? I hope is not too bad. Please keep reviewing. **

**xoxo**


	18. Chapter 18

**Thank you for the reviews. **

**So this is an important chapter, it was difficult to write and I'm still not very happy with the result but I did what I could .**

* * *

**Chapter eighteen**

**Ezra's POV**

"Did you receive any new message from… A?" I asked Aria in a low voice, after looking around to make sure that nobody could hear us.

We were sitting in Rosewood café, taking breakfast on the terrace. I had asked Aria to meet me there in order to spend a little bit of time together before school. It was the first time that we actually went outside together in Rosewood but now that Aria's father had agreed to let me see her there was no reason to keep hiding our relationship. It felt so strange to be here with her, where everybody could see us together, but it also felt good to be able to take breakfast with my girlfriend outside of my apartment. However, I couldn't tell that we were perfectly comfortable especially with all the weird looks that we got.

"No, I didn't receive any message since the day I met your mother," Aria replied.

I bit my lip at this awkward memory. "Really? A sent you a text this day? What was it about?" I asked her, amazed.

"Well, A had, in a way, announced your mother's visit and…" Aria suddenly stopped in the middle of her sentence, looking at something behind me. I turned over to see what she was looking at and spotted a group of girls from Rosewood High looking at us.

I sighed and looked back at Aria. "Aria, don't pay attention to them, it's exactly what they want!"

"I know it's just…" she said, shaking her head.

"Yes, I know how you feel, but don't worry they will get over it," I told her, trying to reassure her.

"Yes, I guess you're right!" She said, not very convinced.

"And you, did you receive any message?" She asked me, worried. The truth was, I hadn't heard from A since the day Aria had told me everything about her/him.

"No, don't worry, I didn't receive any text," I replied, causing her to let out a sigh of relief.

"Good but…" Aria started when a girl, who I identified as one of my former students from Rosewood high, interrupted us.

"Mr. Fitz!" The girl cheerfully said without even greeting Aria.

"Hey, how are you … Shirley, right?" I asked her, hoping that it was her name.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking and you Mr. Fitz?" Shirley asked me, smiling widely.

"I'm fine, as you see," I replied.

"I was thinking that maybe you would love to take a coffee with me some day," Shirley suddenly said.

I looked at Aria who had her eyes wide open, probably wondering how this girl could have the nerve to ask me out in front of her.

"Hum, I'm sorry but, as you see, I'm here with my _girlfriend_," I declined Shirley's invitation, looking at Aria again who was looking daggers at Shirley.

Shirley finally looked at Aria and gave her a fake smile. "Of course, but if some day you change your mind, this is my number," Shirley said, putting a little paper down on the table before leaving.

"Bitch!" Aria whispered causing me to chuckle softly. I couldn't help being amused by her evident jealousy.

"What? It's not funny! Have you heard what she said? She clearly provoked me!" Aria complained.

"You're pretty funny when you're jealous!" I said, smiling widely.

"I'm not jealous! How can I be jealous of Shirley? You barely remembered her name! I'm just angry that she thinks that it's okay to hit on you in front of me!" Aria replied.

"Okay so if you're not jealous maybe I should keep her number!" I teased her.

"Asshole!" She said, kicking my leg under the table.

"Ouch! It hurts!" I complained.

"You deserved it!" She said, pouting.

As I was about to defend myself, Aria's phone rang, putting an end to our fake fight. I attentively watched her as she read her text and got pale.

"What's going on?" I asked her, suddenly worried.

"He is here!" She said, looking around, panicked.

"Who?"

I had barely asked the question that my cell phone rang too. I took it from my pocket and read the text which was probably the same than Aria had received.

**How cute! You two in public, drinking a coffee like every normal couple! I'm really enjoying this spectacle!**

**- A**

My heart raced as I understood what this text meant: A was watching us. I immediately got up and looked around me nervously. There was a couple with a child, an old woman with a dog and some students who were making their way toward Rosewood high.

"Don't waste your time, Ezra. A is not stupid enough to let us catch him!" Aria said, shaking her head. "We should go or I'm going to be late!" She said by getting up from the table.

I dropped Aria at school and made my way toward my apartment still thinking about A's text. It's when I realized that I had forgotten my cell phone at the café. I sighed and took the way back to the café with a point of annoyance.

"I'm sorry; did you find a cell phone? I think I forgot mine here a few minutes earlier?" I asked the waiter when I entered the café.

"No, I'm sorry, sir, but we haven't found any phone," the young man answered me.

"Are you sure? I was sitting right here with my girlfriend," I told the waiter, pointing at the table where Aria and I had taken our breakfast.

"Yes, I remember you, but the table was empty when I went to clean it up a few seconds after your leaving," the young man told me.

"Okay, thank you, maybe it's in my car then." I said, making my way toward my car.

* * *

**Aria's POV**

The morning went by pretty quickly and I soon joined the girls for lunch.

All the morning, I hadn't been able to stop thinking about A's text. He/she had probably been very close to us, watching us. Once again he/she was spying on us and I wondered how many times he/she was here while we thought that we were alone. It made me sick to know that no matter where we went, no matter what we did, A was always here.

During the meal my phone suddenly rang, announcing a text and I smiled when I saw Ezra's name on the screen.

"Someone tells me that it's from sexy Fitzy!" Hanna said, using the nickname that she had attributed to Ezra.

My smile immediately vanished when I read the text.

**I found something very important about A. Meet me at this address as soon as you can and bring the girls with you!**

**Love you**

**Ezra**

With the text was an attachment with an address. My heart raced as a lot of questions came to my mind. What had Ezra found about A? And how? Was he looking for A behind my back?

"Aria, is everything okay?" Emily asked me. I looked at the girls and bit my lip. I still hadn't told them that I had told Ezra everything about A. I had planned to do it very soon but I still hadn't found the right moment.

"Girls, I need to tell you something. Ezra knows about A," I let out in a low voice.

"What?" Hanna exclaimed, bewildered. "I thought you wanted to wait."

"Yes, but Ezra had found a job and A managed to make him lose it. I hadn't any other choices, I owed him the truth! But, girls, if I'm telling you that now, it's because Ezra just sent me a text to tell me that he had found something about A."

"What?" They all said at the same time.

"Yes, I know, it's kind of weird, but he wants all of us to join him at this address," I told them, giving them my phone to let them read the text and see the address.

"It's around fifteen minutes away from Rosewood," Spencer noticed.

"Okay, so we should go now," Hanna said.

"What? But we still have two classes!" Spencer said, scandalized that Hanna could suggest skipping class.

"Oh, come on, Spence, Ezra said that we had to meet him as soon as possible, it could be important! So stop being so serious and hurry up!" Hanna told Spencer sternly. Spencer sighed and followed us unwillingly.

* * *

"It's here!" I said as Spencer's GPS announced us that we had reached our destination.

"It's odd," Emily said, looking at the place in front of us. She was right, there was nothing else than a little cabin surrounded by trees.

"Yes, but it's the address that Ezra gave me," I replied.

"I don't see Ezra's car," Hanna pointed out. I looked around, looking for Ezra's grey car but Hanna was right, Ezra's car wasn't here.

"Maybe he parked his car a little further," Spencer advanced.

"I'm gonna call him!" I said before taking my phone and dialing Ezra's number.

"It goes straight to voice mail," I told the girls as I hung up a few seconds later.

"He is probably waiting for us inside, let's throw a glance!" Spencer said.

The girls and I got out of the car and walked toward the little cabin in front of us.

"This place creeps me out!" Hanna whined and I had to admit that she wasn't the only one.

We reached the old cabin and slowly opened the door which creaked loudly. As soon as we stepped inside, a strange and bitter smell invaded my nose. Everything was dark and we couldn't see anything but Spencer quickly found the switch and the room was filled with light.

Nothing had prepared us for what we saw at this moment. The walls were full of photos, mostly of us and Alison, and they were similar to the ones that we had found in Spencer's lake house the night of the fire. I felt shivers throughout my body when I saw some photo of me and Ezra, kissing in his car. I couldn't even believe that someone had succeeded to take photos of us in such a private moment.

"Oh my God!" Hanna said. "What the hell is it?"

"It's A's lair!" Spencer said.

"How did Ezra find this place and where is he now?" Emily asked, confused.

"Ezra didn't write this text,_ I_ did!" A familiar voice suddenly resounded behind us as the door slammed brutally.

We all turned around at the same time to see Lucas, standing in the doorway and looking at us with a weird expression upon his face.

"Lucas," Hanna said livid.

"Yes, it's me, surprise!" Lucas said, ironically.

"What are you doing here? Why did you send me a text from Ezra's phone?" I asked him, stunned.

Lucas chuckled. "You should tell your boyfriend to be more careful. He forgot his phone at the café this morning!" Lucas said, pulling Ezra's phone out of his pocket. Suddenly, something hit me. A was there this morning; he was spying on Ezra and me.

"Lucas, what… what is going on? What are you doing here and why have you asked us to come here?" Hanna asked, totally confused and probably refusing to admit to herself what we had already all understood.

"Because he is A!" I suddenly said causing Hanna to look at me with terror.

"Finally, bitches, I was wondering when you were going to stop being so stupid!" Lucas said, looking at us with his eyes full of anger.

Hanna shook her head. "No, you can't be A, not you!" She said totally stunned. I was too, even if I didn't know Lucas as well as Hanna, he had always seemed such a nice guy and he was Hanna's close friend. I couldn't believe that he was the one who had harassed us during months.

Lucas chuckled and smiled. "Why? Because the poor little Lucas can't be smart enough to be A?"

"Why?" Hanna shouted as I saw tears begin to fall down her face. "Why are you doing that?"

"Why? Are you really asking me why? Don't you have any idea? This bitch made my life a nightmare during years; she treated me like crap!" Lucas snapped at her.

"Alison? But it wasn't us, it was her!" I suddenly said.

Lucas looked at me.

"It was you too! _Silence gives consent_. You could have done something to stop her; she wouldn't have been so powerful without you. But none of you has ever said something. You are as much responsible as her," Lucas said coldly.

I knew he was right, none of us has never prevented Alison from doing what she did to Lucas and to other people. If we had done something maybe nothing would have happened.

"But I thought you were my friend!" Hanna yelled as the tears came faster down her face.

"Your friend? " Lucas chuckled. "Do you know when I would have needed a friend? When Alison humiliated me every single day, when she stole all my clothes in the changing-room and took a photo of me, almost naked that she has sent to all the school. When she dropped her juice on my essay that I had spent the night to write! But during all this time nobody did something! Nobody!" He said, getting angrier.

"So, during all this time you were just pretending to be my friend? It was just a pretext to get your revenge?" Hanna asked between her tears.

"You know what we say: _keep your friends close but your enemies closer!_ So it's exactly what I did. Having you as a friend was the perfect plan! Actually, I thought it was going to be harder but you're so naïve." Lucas said.

"And you tortured Alison too, didn't you?" Spencer suddenly said.

Lucas chuckled once again. "After all that she had done to me it was pure bliss to see her so scared. It was crazy how a simple little text could make her freak out like that, but I guess that you know the feeling!" Lucas said.

"And these photos? " I said, pointing at the walls full of photos. "You are spying on us for years! "I shouted at him.

"Yep! I had been working on my plan for a pretty long time, I had to have something on Alison to blackmail her but it's her diary that helped me the most! I stole it from her at school; it's how I know all your dirty little secrets! Like daddy's infidelity, sexual orientation, evident attraction to big sister's boyfriends or eating disorders! " Lucas said, looking at each of us when he said our own secret.

"But Alison, she found the photos and her own diary!" Emily said.

"Yeah, I messed up one day and she found this place. She just had the time to take some of the photos and some pieces of her diary that I had ripped off, of course not the most important part, before she heard my car."

"So she figured out that it was you, it's why you killed her, right?" Hanna yelled, crying. Lucas suddenly looked at us strangely.

"It's the thing, she never found out who A was, I wanted her to find out, I had planned to tell her, I wanted her to see that I had taken my revenge, that I was stronger that she thought! I wanted her to beg me to stop, to apologize for what she had done! But it never happened!" Lucas confessed.

"Oh, so she didn't even see your face when you killed her?" Spencer said with rage.

"It wasn't me! I didn't kill her! I wish I did, but sorry, I'm not the one that the world has to thank for that!" Lucas replied.

"I don't believe you!" Hanna screamed.

"Trust me, Hanna, if I had done that, I would be proud enough to tell the world!" Lucas told us.

"But you know who did it, don't you?" I asked, angrily.

"I have a pretty good idea, yes!" He replied.

"Who was it? Who did this to her?" I yelled. Lucas looked at me with an illegible expression which made me shiver.

"Trust me, you don't want to know!" He replied coldly.

"You have to tell us, Lucas!" Hanna begged him. Lucas looked at her for a few seconds as if he was about to tell us everything when he suddenly burst out laughing.

"Do you really think that I'm going to expose the person who freed the world from this fucking little bitch?" He said, ironically.

"You're a monster!" Emilie said, tears falling down her face.

"Oh really? And what was Alison? _She_ was the monster! She has done horrible things! Her only pleasures were to torture people and make their lives miserable, yours included!" Lucas replied, full of anger.

"The person who killed her did a service to you!" He added.

"How can you say that? We loved her!" Emily said.

"Oh come on, let's be honest! You are so much better without her! Hanna, what do you think you would be if she was still alive? Do you think that you would have been elected prom queen? No, you would still be the poor "chubby Hanna" who makes herself throw up to forget how miserable her life is! And you, Emily, you would still be the poor rejected girl, unable to accept her sexuality and in love with a girl who doesn't give a shit about you.

And, Spencer? You would still be the poor little sister who tries to look like her perfect big sister!"

Lucas then turned toward me.

"And you, Aria, do you think that you would be in a relationship with your precious teacher? Of course not, because Alison would have managed to convince you that you weren't good enough for him and, between us, she would be the one who would have managed to seduce the poor guy!" Lucas said.

A grimace of disgust spread my face at the thought of Alison and Ezra together.

"You would still be Alison's little puppets, that's all!" Lucas said.

We all kept silence for a few seconds. What Lucas was saying was horrible but what was even more horrible was that he wasn't totally wrong. We had been Alison's puppets, always doing what she told us to do and maybe it would still be the case. But we had never wished her death, never! We loved Alison and losing her had been one of the more painful things of our lives.

"You're insane!" I said with disgust.

"Why now? Why did you want us to come here to find out about you?" Spencer asked Lucas and I wasn't sure that I wanted to know the answer.

Lucas looked at us for a few seconds before saying sternly, "Because I was tired of this little game, I wanted you to know. I never had the chance to tell Alison who was making her life a nightmare but I wanted _you_ to know that it was me, that _it's_ me!" Lucas replied.

"And what was the plan, kill all of us?" I suddenly asked him. Lucas looked at us intensely. His eyes were dark and full of anger and I understood how much he hated us and how much he wanted us to pay.

"No, it _was_ not the plan, _it's_ the plan!" Lucas let out, confirming my worst fear.

"Haven't you noticed a strange smell when you arrived?" Lucas said, pointing at a petrol can on the floor as he suddenly pulled a box of matches out of his pocket.

He was going to set fire to the cabin like he had done to Spencer's lake house and I was sure that this time we wouldn't be so lucky.

It was a wooden cabin, it would be burnt down in a few minutes.

I looked around me, looking for an exit but there wasn't even a window and Lucas was blocking the door. We were trapped, totally trapped.

"Lucas…" Hanna begged him in a low voice. "Please, don't do that."

"Too late for the supplications, bitches!" Lucas said as he pulled out a match from the box. "I screwed up the first time in Spencer's lake house, but this time, I assure you that I won't!"

"And I assure you that you won't do anything!" A familiar voice suddenly said as the door suddenly opened.

Then everything went very fast. Lucas turned over and before we knew what was happening, he collapsed on the floor.

"Is everybody okay?" I looked up to see Ezra in the doorway, a big piece of wood in his hand.

"Ezra!" I yelled, totally stunned, my eyes wide open.

Ezra immediately ran toward me and I threw myself into his arms.

"It's alright, sweetheart!" He whispered in my ear. "I called the cops, they're on their way!" Ezra informed us.

"How did you know?" I asked him, still trembling.

"I lost my phone this morning, probably at the café so I localized it and came here. I recognized Spencer's car and immediately heard the voices inside and I knew that something was going on," Ezra told me.

"It was Lucas, he is A," I told him.

"I know. I heard what he said."

"He used your phone to make us come there, it was a trap!" I said.

Ezra shook his head. "I'm sorry, this is my fault. I should have been more careful."

"Ezra, you just save our lives," I said. "If you hadn't come, he …." I said, unable to finish my sentence as a tear rolled down my cheek.

"Shh, it's over now," Ezra told me, pulling me closer to him as the police sirens started to resound.

The policemen asked us a few questions as some of their colleagues were taking care of Lucas who was still unconscious. We briefly explained the situation and they asked us to come to the police station the day after.

Hanna was still shocked and barely able to answer the questions that the policemen were asking us.

"Hanna, it's going to be okay!" Spencer, Emily and I told her by hugging her as the cops were with Ezra.

"I can't believe he did that, he was my friend, my friend!" She sobbed against us.

"I know, but it's over now," Spencer told her.

"It's not!" Lucas suddenly said as two policemen were leading him toward their car after having managed to wake him up.

We all looked at him.

"I'm telling you, it's not over! You think that you have finally found out the truth but it's just the beginning. I'm not the one you should be most afraid of." He yelled.

"It's enough!" The policemen said by taking him away from us.

"Trust me, it's not over!" Lucas yelled as the policemen took him away to their car.

Even if I wished that Lucas was lying I knew he was right. I knew he hadn't lied when he had told us that he hadn't killed Ali and I knew that it wasn't over. But what I didn't know then, was that what was coming was worse than anything I had ever imagined.

* * *

**A/N: So there we are, A is revealed. I thought it was time after eighteen chapters.**

** Maybe it's not what you were expecting and you're disappointed , I don't know but since I started this story Lucas was A for me.**

**I chose Lucas because I wanted someone of the girls's age so Lucas was perfect because he was close to the girls especially to Hanna and he knew Alison. **

**I'm going on vacation tomorrow so I won't be able to update before two weeks but I will try to write as much as possible while I'm away and I promise you that you'll have some drama, as Lucas said "it's not over !" lol **

**Also, to be clear, there won't be another A, Lucas is A and the rest of the story will focus on Ali's murderer (and ezria of course ) lol.**

**Please tell me your thoughts and sorry for the mistakes.**

**xoxo**


	19. Chapter 19

**Thank you for your reviews. So I'm back and this is chapter nineteen.**

* * *

**Chapter nineteen**

**A few days later**

_It's not over; I'm telling you it's not over._

Lucas voice resounded in my head as I woke up, sweaty and trembling from another nightmare.

A few days had passed since we had found out that Lucas was A and since Ezra had prevented us from burning alive like Lucas had planned. The day after the accident, the police had interrogated us once again and we had told them the truth. The girls and I had also been obligated to tell the truth to our families. My mother knew that something was going on but my father and she had been very shocked to learn that someone had harassed us during almost a year. They still didn't understand why I had kept all of this from them.

I hadn't really seen the girls during the past few days because we hadn't come back to school yet, our parents agreeing that we needed to have some rest after what had happened. But I knew that Hanna was having a hard time, and it perfectly normal. One of her close friends was the one who had harassed us and worse, who had tried to kill us. I wasn't feeling well either. Since A had begun to send us his texts, I had always thought that the day we would find out who he was I would feel a huge relief and would finally be able to move on but I was wrong. Actually, I wasn't relieved at all; of course, I didn't have to worry about A's dangerous game anymore, but the fear had been replaced by a huge desire of knowing the truth. I had never wanted to know what had happened to Alison so badly and I was ready to do anything possible to find out.

I finally got up, dressed up and made my way toward the staircase. I suddenly stopped when I heard my parents' voices downstairs.

"_No, I can't do that!" _My father's voice resounded.

"_Byron, he saved our daughter's life! It's the least we can do!" _My mother replied.

"_Fine! Fine!"_

Curious to know what they were talking about, I kept walking and entered the living-room, joining my parents who immediately stopped talking when they saw me.

"Honey, hey! How are you feeling?" My mother asked me with concern.

I smiled at her. "I'm fine, Mom."

"Do you want me to make you some pancakes?" She asked me. Since what had happened, I benefited of a special treatment which included pancakes every morning.

I shook my head in negation. "No, thank you, Mom but I told Ezra that I would take breakfast with him, if it's okay?" I asked looking at my parents.

My mother didn't even hesitate. "Sure, and talking about that, your father and I have something to tell you," my mother said before looking at my father. "Byron, do you want to tell her?"

I glanced at my father who cleared his throat awkwardly. "Yes, hum, your mother and I have decided to…" He started before interrupting himself, clearly embarrassed. I suddenly got nervous. My father was acting as if he was about to say the most difficult thing that he had ever said.

"Byron?" My mother insisted, waiting for my father to continue.

He took a deep breath before letting out, "we decided to invite Ezra over for dinner!"

My jaw dropped. "What?" I asked, totally stunned. My father had made himself very clear when he had allowed me to see Ezra; he didn't want him in his house. And suddenly he was inviting him over for dinner?

"Yes," my mother said, "it's the least we can do; he saved your life as well as the girls'. Plus, it could be an opportunity to get to know him better!" My mother told me. "So, what do you think?"

"It's great, Mom, thank you so much, to both of you!" I said looking at my parents. My father gave me a side smile even if I knew he was making a huge effort.

"Perfect, so, tell Ezra that he is invited over for dinner the day after tomorrow. Mike is staying over at his friend's house tonight, and I want all the family to be here," my mom told me.

I thanked my parents once again and left the house.

* * *

Ezra immediately pulled me into a tight hug when he opened the door of his apartment. I closed my eyes and sighed in contentment when I felt his lips kissing my neck softly.

"How are you?" he asked me a few seconds later.

"Fine!" I replied.

"No more nightmares?" He asked me with concern. I hadn't told Ezra about my nightmares but two days ago, as I had fallen asleep while we were watching a movie, I had woken up, screaming after a terrible nightmare.

"No," I lied. I didn't want to ruin the day by getting Ezra even more worried about me, especially when I had something to tell him that I knew he wasn't going to like.

"I have a good news!" I started, thinking that telling him about my parents' invitation would make him in a good moon which would help with the second thing I needed to talk to him about.

"My parents want to invite you over for dinner!" I let out, smiling.

Ezra looked at me with his eyes wide opened. "By your parents, you mean your mom and … your _dad_?"

"Yep!"

"Wow, that's …unexpected!" he said, surprised.

"I know, I am as surprised as you are but I think that the fact that you saved my life has something to do with that!" I told him. "So, will you come?"

Ezra smiled to me. "Of course I will! But maybe you should tell your mom to hide the knives, especially if I'm next to your father!"

I laughed loudly. "Come on, my father is not that crazy!"

Ezra made a face and we both burst out laughing. It was the first time I laughed since what had happened. Of course, Ezra had this effect on me; he always made things better.

Ezra then took a step toward me and wrapped his arms around my waist before pressing his lips against mine. I kissed him back and allowed him access when I felt his tongue on my bottom lip. After this kiss which left us breathless, we sat down on the couch to eat the breakfast that Ezra had made for us.

"Ezra?" I nervously said. I knew I had to tell him now. I couldn't wait.

"Hum?" He said, taking a sip of his coffee.

"There is something else I need to tell you!" I started nervously as he looked at me. I didn't know how Ezra was going to react but I had made my decision and there was nothing which could make me change my mind.

"Yes?"

I took a deep breath before saying, "I want to see Lucas!"

I looked at him, my lip trapped between my teeth in anticipation, and watched Ezra as he opened one's eyes wide.

"What?"

"I know what you think but I need to see him." I replied.

"But, why?" Ezra asked me.

"Why? Because he knows who killed Alison and I need some answers," I told him.

Ezra shook his head. "But, Aria, have you ever considered that he was lying? Maybe he doesn't have any idea who killed your friend!" Ezra advanced.

"No, I'm sure he knows! When he told us that it wasn't over… I know he was telling the truth!" I objected.

"Aria, this boy is crazy; he tried to kill you! I don't know what you're expecting from him," Ezra tried to dissuade me.

The truth was, I didn't know either. I was aware that Lucas was suffering from mental disorders and was blinded by his anger but maybe a tiny part of me was hoping that he would give me some clues which could permit me to find out Alison's murderer identity.

"I don't know what I'm really expecting, but what I know is that I need to see him, Ezra, I really need to!" I told him.

Ezra looked at me and sighed. "There is nothing I can say which could make you change your mind, right?" He asked me.

I gave him a weak smile and shook my head.

"Fine, but I'm coming with you! I don't want to let you alone with this boy!" He suddenly told me.

"Ezra, no, you don't have to! Lucas is in jail, I will talk to him through a glass, there is nothing to worry about!" I said.

"It's Lucas we're talking about! The person who had made your life a nightmare during a year and who had tried to kill you twice, of course there is something to worry about!" He told me.

"There is nothing I can say which could make you change your mind, right?" I asked him, using the same words than he had told me a few seconds earlier, causing him to smile.

* * *

One hour later, Ezra parked his car in front of Rosewood prison. My heart was beating really fast as I got out of Ezra's car. I still didn't know what I was going to say to Lucas and how I would react in his presence. Ezra probably felt my anxiety because he took my hand, squeezing it gently.

"You're still sure that you want to do that? You can change your mind, you know," he told me quietly.

I shook my head. "No, I'm sure, I want to do it."

Ezra nodded and we made our way toward the building. A policeman received us and allowed us entry in the visiting area.

"Maybe you should wait for me outside," I told Ezra.

" Aria, no, we have already talked about it, I'm not letting you alone with him!" He replied, shaking his head.

"But, you will be just here, you don't have to worry and… I think it's something I need to do by myself!" I told Ezra. I was under the impression that Lucas wouldn't want to tell me anything if Ezra was here with me. Moreover, I had something to ask Lucas that I knew that Ezra wouldn't like.

Ezra hesitated a few seconds and finally complied. "Okay, but if anything happens, I'm right here!"

"Yes, I know!

Ezra gave me a peck on my cheek and reluctantly dropped my hand . I entered the room and gave him a reassuring smile before the policeman closed the door.

I couldn't help twisting my fingers nervously during the few minutes I waited alone in the visiting area. I finally heard a door slam and my heart jumped when I saw the person who had done anything possible to make my life a nightmare. I held my breath as Lucas entered the room and sat down on a chair in front of me, on the other side of the glass.

"You have fifteen minutes!" The policeman told me coldly before leaving the room, letting me alone with Lucas.

Lucas was the first to take the phone on the other side of the glass. I imitated him and pressed the telephone against my ear.

"Look at who is visiting me! Miss Montgomery!" Lucas said with a devilish smile. "What brings you here? Do you miss my little texts? Don't worry, I miss sending them to you but phones are not allowed here. Too bad!" Lucas added, smirking.

I looked at him without saying a word. I couldn't believe that he was joking after what he had done to us. I didn't know what I had expected, maybe guilt. Maybe I had secretly expected him to feel guilty, to apologize for what he had done, I guess I was too naïve. After all, he was A. How could I have hoped that _A_ would feel guilty?

I took a deep breath, trying to build my courage. "I need to talk to you!" I said sternly, refusing to let him make me lose control.

"Oh, really? And about what?" Lucas asked me.

"Alison!"

Lucas's features immediately changed as if he couldn't even stand hearing her name.

"Of course! It's always about this bitch!" Lucas said. "Popular even in the death!"

"I want you to tell me who killed her!" I let out. Like he had done the day where he had trapped us in the cabin, Lucas chuckled.

"And why would I tell you that?" He said. I had expected this question and I had thought of the answer I would give him.

"Because you're locked in here and you want to leave!" I told him.

Lucas furrowed his brows. "And?"

"And if you tell me what you know, the girls and I will help you. We could talk in your favor!" I told him. Actually, I hadn't told the girls about that but in that moment I was so blinded by the desire of knowing the truth that I was ready to do anything possible to get it.

"Why do you want the truth so badly?" Lucas asked me suddenly. "Do you think that you would feel better after that?"

I looked at him, astonished. How could he ask me that?

"Because I need to know who killed my best friend, I need to know the name of the monster who took her away from us!" I replied.

Lucas chuckled. "Your best friend? Alison wasn't your best friend! She just used you! She couldn't love anybody; the only person she loved was herself!"

Once again, I saw the hatred on his features and I wondered how it was even possible to hate someone like that.

"If you knew what she did, trust me, you wouldn't be so desperate to find out what happened to her!" Lucas added.

I frowned, confused. "What are you talking about? What did she do?"

As Lucas kept silence, I insisted. "Lucas, I need the truth!"

"You think that now, but trust me, this truth that you want so badly, it won't make you feel better, it will destroy you. Every truth has a price, Aria!" Lucas replied.

"I'm ready to pay it! So, what do you think of this deal?" I asked, sternly.

"Do you think that the police haven't proposed me that before?" He said.

He suddenly bent toward the glass and pressed his face against it causing me to back off a bit. Seeing him like that, with his face pressed against the glass, reminded me of the night of the fire. It was him that I had seen through the window. He had been watching me die.

"You know what? If I had wanted to tell them, I would have done it, but I don't care to get out of here one day. I will bring this secret with me in the grave! I will never tell you, never! But I'm gonna give you an advice: be really careful who you trust!" Lucas said, looking at me in the eyes.

"What is that supposed to mean?" I asked him.

"I told you, my lips are sealed! You won't get anything from me!" He replied, smirking.

At this moment, something broke inside me and a wave of anger hit me forcefully. Suddenly, I couldn't stand being in the same room than him, I couldn't stand seeing him, the only thing I wanted was to rip his eyes out.

"Look, bastard, you think that you won, but you didn't. You will stay here for the rest of your miserable life and I'm going to make sure of it!" I said on the phone, full of anger.

Suddenly Lucas burst out laughing. I don't know if it was his laugh or the past events but suddenly the anger took the upper hand and before I knew what I was doing I threw the phone into the glass as hard as I could.

The door immediately opened and Ezra, alerted by the sound, entered the room followed by a policeman.

"Aria, what's going on?" He asked me, panicked.

"Lucas, he…" I yelled, still blinded by rage.

"Aria, calm down!" Ezra said, taking my hands to prevent me from doing anything.

"I'm sorry but I'm going to ask you to leave!" The policeman told us, sternly.

"Come on, Aria, we have to go!" Ezra told me, taking my hand to lead me toward the exit.

I complied and followed him but before I left the room, I turned over to look at Lucas a last time and immediately froze. Lucas wasn't behind the glass anymore, he had probably been escorted back to his cell by a policeman but he had left something for me. On the glass was an inscription, written probably with a lipstick or blood.

**We will see who the winner really is, bitch!**

**A**

I took off in a sprint right toward the exit and left the jail as fast as I could.

* * *

**Please review.**

**_what lies beneath the surface_: I know you want A to stay in the story, but as you see, even if he has been unmasked, A still has a role in this story and there are still some "big things" which will be revealed soon.**

** xoxo**


	20. Chapter 20

**Thank you for your reviews, and I'm sorry for the wait.**

**Flasback= italic**

* * *

**Chapter twenty**

**Aria's POV**

"Aria, wait!" Ezra called out behind me as I was rushing toward the parking lot.

"What happened with Lucas?" he asked me.

"I don't want to talk about it!" I replied coldly, keeping walking at a fast pace toward the car. Suddenly, Ezra grabbed me gently by the arm and turned me over in order to face him.

"Aria, tell me what happened. What did Lucas tell you?" He asked me.

"Nothing, he didn't tell me anything and he will never do!" I yelled, my voice full of desperation. Ezra slowly brushed his thumb across my cheekbone, wiping away a tear which was rolling down my face.

"I knew that this visit was a bad idea. This boy is crazy, he will never tell you anything," Ezra said pulling me into a hug.

"Come on, let's go to my apartment," he whispered in my ear.

I pulled away and looked at him. "Ezra, do you mind if I come back home? I…I need to be alone."

"No, if it's what you want!" Ezra replied. "I'm going to bring you home!"

I shook my head. "No, I will walk. It will permit me to clean up my head!" I replied.

Ezra was about to object but he probably felt that I really needed it because he closed his mouth before a word could pass his lips.

"Okay, but call me if you need me!" He told me.

I nodded. "Promised!"

I then rose on tiptoes to kiss him briefly on the lips before leaving him.

I left Ezra but I didn't come back home. Instead, I walked for a while thinking of what had just happened. It was so frustrating to know that Lucas knew the identity of Alison's killer and kept hiding it from us. I couldn't believe that I had been stupid enough to think that he was going to tell me the truth. I should have listened to Ezra.

_If you knew what she did, trust me, you wouldn't be so desperate to find out what happened to her!_ Lucas's sentence resounded in my head as I was walking down Rosewood streets. What exactly was he talking about? What had Alison done?

I also thought of what Lucas had said about Alison, that she wasn't our friend and was unable to love. I couldn't accept that. Of course, Alison hadn't been the perfect friend, and I was aware that she loved having the upper hand on us but I knew she cared about us.

After a while, I texted the girls and told them that I needed to see them. We agreed to meet at Hanna's house and I made my way toward her street. I didn't know how they would react when I would tell them that I had seen Lucas. I didn't want them to think that I had acted behind their backs, but it was something I had to do by myself.

Half an hour later, we were all in Hanna's room, the girls waiting for me to explain.

"So, Aria, what's going on?" Spencer asked me. I bit my lip and took a deep breath before telling them what I had done a few hours ago.

"Guys, you're probably going to be angry with me but…I visited Lucas!" I let out. The girls looked at me, amazed.

"Why?" Hanna asked me. "And why haven't you told us before?"

"Because I wanted to do it alone, and I knew you wouldn't have agreed with this decision!" I explained to them.

The girls kept silence for a few seconds, processing.

"What did he tell you?" Emily asked me.

I sighed. They were probably hoping that I had got some new informations but the truth was: I had nothing!

"Nothing!" I replied. "He said that he will never tell me who Ali's killer is."

"Maybe I should see him, maybe he will tell me something!" Hanna said.

I shook my head. I knew that Lucas would not talk. "Han, I don't think he will!"

"But he is-was my friend," Hanna replied. We all looked at each other, not knowing what to say. Lucas had never been Hanna's friend. Never! He was just feigning to earn her trust.

"Yes, I know what you think!" Hanna said, guessing our thoughts.

"Han…" Emily began to say before Hanna interrupted her.

"You know what? It doesn't matter; I'm tired of being sad and depressed. I don't want Lucas to make me sad anymore, he isn't worth it. I want to have fun!" Hanna suddenly told us.

"And what have you in mind?" Spencer asked her.

Without answering she got up and walked toward the door.

"I will be right back!" She said before leaving. A second later, Hanna came back, proudly holding a bottle of vodka in her hand.

"I thought that we could play _Never I have ever!_" Hanna said, smiling widely.

"Seriously, Han?" Spencer said, furrowing her brows.

"Yes, we always played this game before, remember!" Hanna replied.

By before, I knew she meant when Alison was still alive. It was one of her favorite games; actually, all the games which included alcohol were her favourites. Of course, she was always the one who ended up completely drunk, because we hadn't done half the things she had done. I couldn't count how many times we had played this game, but one time in particular came to my mind.

"_Spencer is the first!" Alison said. _

"_Okay," Spencer replied. "So, never have I ever skipped class!" She proudly said._

_Alison, Emily, Hanna and I looked at each other and burst out laughing._

"What?" Spencer asked us innocently.

"_Are you trying to get us drunk in two seconds?" Alison said._

Spencer looked at her, confussion all over her face as Alison sighed.

"_You're unbelievable!" She said before taking a sip of her drink, soon imitated by Hanna, Emily and I. _

"_Okay, my turn!" Emily said. "Never have I ever done something crazy with my hair, I don't know like pink stripes!" She said causing the girls to look at me, smiling._

_I shot her a glance_."_Thanks, Em!" I said by taking a sip of my drink._

"_Han?" Spencer said, looking at Hanna._

"_Okay, so, never have I ever slept with someone married!" _Hanna suddenly said.

"_Seriously, Hanna?" I said._

"_Sorry, I couldn't think of anything better!" Hanna apologized as we laughed._

"_You know, you could have just said, never have I ever slept with someone!" Alison said causing Hanna to blush. It was Alison's favorite game; remind us that she was more experimented than we were._

_As I was on the point to tell her that it was her turn, she suddenly took a sip of her drink._

"_Ali, what are you doing?" Emily said. "You know, you're only supposed to drink when you have actually done the thing, not the contrary!"_

"_Who says that I haven't?" Alison replied._

"_You're not being serious, are you?" Spencer said._

"_Hum, hum!" Ali replied, smirking._

"_Wait, you really slept with someone married?" I asked her, totally stunned._

"_Guilty!" She confirmed, causing all of us to look at her strangely._

"_Oh, don't look at me like that!" Alison said._

"_Who?" Hanna asked._

_Alison seemed to hesitate a few seconds before saying, "You don't know him, it's a guy I met on holiday but it's over anyway!"_

"_But…" Emily tried to say before Ali interrupted her._

"_Aria, your turn, sweetie," she quickly added, putting an end to the conversation._

The girls and I played the game for a pretty long time and after some questions like_: Never have I ever fallen in love with my teacher_ or _never have I ever_ _stolen something from a store or kissed my sister's boyfriend, _we all ended up pretty drunk. Hanna proposed to us to stay for the night but I suddenly got a better idea.

* * *

**Ezra's POV**

I was sitting on my couch, watching TV when I heard knocking on the door. I looked at my watch and frowned when I noticed the late hour.

"Aria!" I said, surprised when I found her in front of my door. "What are you doing here?"

She smiled at me. "Well, do I need an excuse to see my sexy boyfriend!"

I furrowed my brows. She was acting strangely, something was wrong with her.

"Are you alright?" I asked her.

"Sure," she replied. "Are you going to let me come in or what?"

I stepped to the side to allow her entry and immediately spotted the problem when I saw her stagger as she was making her way to the couch.

"Aria, have you drunk?" I asked her.

She smiled at me. "Maybe a little bit. The girls and I got a few drinks," she replied by sitting down on the couch.

"Just a few, eh?" I asked doubtfully.

"Yes, daddy," she said giggling which made me realize how drunk she was. It was really weird to see her like that; I had never seen her drunk before, and I even wondered how she had been able to come here without any problems. She suddenly tried to get up from the couch and I reached her just in time to catch her before she fell.

"Okay, miss, you stay on the couch while I fill you a glass of water, what do you think?" I told her by settling her on the couch. She nodded, still smiling and I made my way to my tiny kitchen.

I was filling a glass with water when I felt two tiny arms wrap around my waist and Aria's hot breath on my neck.

"Aria, what are you doi…" I told her by turning over to face her. My jaw dropped when I saw her, standing in front of me in nothing but her red lace underwear.

"What do you think I'm doing?" She said, smiling before attacking my lips. I opened my mouth to try to say something but she took the occasion to slip her tongue into my mouth. I responded to her kiss, caressing her tongue with mine and tasting the alcohol as I let myself loose in the kiss. My hands ran along her sides caressing her bare skin as she pressed herself flush against me causing me to immediately get harder. We kissed for a few minutes until I felt Aria's hands begin to undo my belt.

"Aria, stop!" I told her, breaking the kiss. "You're drunk!"

"No, I'm not!"

"Oh really? So tell me who wrote _To kill a mockingbird_?" I asked her.

She looked at me with confusion written all over her face. "What's that? I have never heard about it before!"

I shook my head. "You're totally drunk!"

"Okay, maybe a bit, but who cares? I'm still able to do a lot of things," she seductively said before attacking my mouth.

Even if it was hard to resist, I succeeded to bring myself to do it.

"Aria, no!" I said.

"Come on, I know you want me," she said, biting her lip. Of course I wanted her! How could I not want her when she was standing in front of me in this sexy underwear? The only thing I wanted was to rip them off but I knew she wasn't being herself.

"It's not the point, you're drunk!" I told her firmly.

"Can you just stop saying that? Who are you? My father?" She suddenly said, getting upset.

"Aria, come on, don't react like …" I tried to explain before she interrupted me.

"Like what? Like a child? It's what you wanted to say, isn't it?" She asked me, spitefully.

"Aria, no, of course not!" I said.

"Oh, yeah, of course it is! I'm just a kid, I can't compete with Mr. Fitz who knows exactly what is good for me!" Aria snapped at me.

"Aria, that's ridiculous, you don't know what you're saying," I told her, trying my best to deal with the fight which had taken me by surprise. One second earlier she was almost begging me to make love to her and the next second she was yelling at me.

"Screw you!" She shouted once again. She then dressed up as fast as she could, and made her way to the door, still staggering.

"Where are you going?" I asked her by following her.

"I'm leaving!" She said, opening the door. I grabbed her by the arm and shut the door. I couldn't let her go like that.

"No, Aria, you can't go anywhere like that, look at you, you can barely stand on your feet," I told her.

"Don't tell me what I can do or not! Let me go!" She shouted at me, trying to free her arm from my grip.

"No, I can't let you go, please, Aria, calm down!" I tried to calm her down by squeezing her arm a little harder to prevent her from leaving.

"Ezra, let me go, you have no right to prevent me from leaving, let me go, NOW!" She hysterically yelled at me.

"Aria, please, you need to calm down," I told her as she struggled against my grip, trying to free herself. I had never seen her like this before; she was totally beside herself with anger and out of control.

"Let me go! Let me go!" She shouted at me, struggling violently which caused me to squeeze her tiny arm harder. I suddenly got scared of hurting her.

"Aria, stop you're going to hurt yourself!" I told her in an attempt to calm her down.

"Fuck! Let me go!"

She struggled violently for a few seconds, and suddenly, without any warning, she burst into tears.

"Hey!" I said, totally surprised by her reaction. I hesitantly pulled her into a hug, hoping that she wasn't going to reject me. She didn't, and instead she held on to me as if her life depended on it.

"Shh, baby, calm down, you're emotional because of alcohol, you just need a good night and everything will be alright," I whispered in her ear, caressing her long hair as she cried loudly.

She suddenly pulled away and looked at me, shaking her head, tears all over her face.

"No, nothing will be alright. She's dead, Ezra. She's dead and she will never come back," she said between her sobs.

"Alison? Are you talking about Alison?" I asked her.

She slowly nodded as deep sobs escaped her lips.

Aria almost never talked about Alison. Of course, I knew that her disappearance and her death had affected her a lot, but she had never really talked to me about that.

"She was just fifteen and now she's dead, she's dead. I thought that finding A's identity would change something but I was wrong, it will never bring her back, never!" She sobbed against my chest.

"I miss her, so much. It's not fair; the monster who killed her is still free while she is in a grave!"

"I know, baby, I know," I told her by hugging her tighter and gently kissing the top of her head. For the first time, I really realized how much this story had traumatized her. Of course it had. Her best friend had been murdered while they were having a sleepover together; it wasn't something you could get over so easily.

I held her tightly for several long minutes, rubbing her back as she cried on my shoulder, her tears soaking my shirt.

When her breathing came back to a normal pace, I slowly pulled away and caressed her cheek with the back of my palm.

"Come on," I told her by leading her toward the bed. I helped her to remove her clothes and gave her one of my T-shirts before turning off the lights and lying down on the bed, next to her. She immediately snuggled beside me and I wrapped my arms around her petite body as she rested her head on my chest. I delicately caressed her hair and softly kissed her forehead.

"Stay with me!" She suddenly said, sleepily.

"Always, sweetheart." I replied before whispering in her ear, "It's going to be okay, Aria, I promise you that it's going to be okay."

At this moment I didn't just want to reassure her, I did mean it. I really thought that the worst was behind us and that she was going to feel better soon.

But I was wrong, so wrong.

* * *

**I hope you liked it and, as always, feel free to point out my mistakes.**

**xoxo**


	21. Chapter 21

**Thank you for your reviews!**

**I'm sorry for the wait but I'm really busy with school so I can't update as often as I used to.**

**So this is chapter twenty one.**

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**Chapter Twenty one**

**Aria's POV**

I woke up with the sensation that someone was banging a hammer against my head over and over again. I suddenly became aware of the two arms wrapped around my waist and turned over as softly as I could to find a sleepy Ezra next to me.

I didn't even remember having come to his apartment. The last thing that I was able to remember was the game the girls and I had played. I had a vague memory of Hanna saying that she had never had a crush on her teacher; I had taken a sip of my drink and after that nothing. I wondered how I had ended up in Ezra's bed.

I shut my eyes tight, trying to suppress the headache which had considerably increased since I had first opened my eyes and I suddenly felt a hand brushing a piece of hair off my face. I slowly opened my eyes again to see Ezra smiling at me.

"Hey, you!" He said.

I smiled too but my smile turned into a grimace when my headache increased.

"Bad headache, right?" Ezra told me.

I nodded in agreement.

"Don't move, I will be right back," he told me before getting up from his bed. A few seconds later he held me a glass of water. "Drink this it should help your head to get better!"

Without hesitation, I drank and couldn't suppress a grimace when the liquid burnt my irritated throat.

Once the glass was empty I looked up at Ezra. "Ezra, what happened yesterday night?"

Ezra looked at me with an astonished look. "You don't remember?"

I shook my head in negation and immediately regretted it when my headache increased.

"No! In the last memory I have, I was in Hanna's room! Did I come here after?"

"Yes you did!" Ezra replied.

"And?" I asked him, suspicious, getting scared of what I had done.

"Well, you tried to seduce me with your sexy red underwear." He replied, smirking causing my cheeks to turn bright red.

"And ? Did it work?" I asked Ezra.

"Trust me if it had worked, you would remember!" Ezra replied, still smirking.

"You rejected me?" I asked him, feigning to be upset.

"I knew, you weren't really yourself so yes," Ezra said. "You weren't really happy and you got angry!"

I looked at him in disbelief. "Really? So what happened?

Ezra looked at me strangely as if he didn't want to talk about it.

"Ezra?" I insisted.

"You yelled at me and then you…burst into tears, I think you were emotional because of alcohol," he said.

I furrowed my brows. "I burst into tear just like that?"

Once again, Ezra had this strange expression upon his face.

"You talked about Ali!" He finally let out.

"Oh," I said, looking down. Suddenly some moments of the night came back to my mind.

"I think I remember a bit," I sadly told Ezra.

"Hey," he said, cupping my face in his hands. "It's going to be okay."

I nodded, feigning a smile. I knew Ezra wouldn't buy it but the effort would count toward something.

"Come on, I'm gonna make you breakfast!" Ezra said before walking toward his kitchen.

He did and the food contributed to improve my headache.

"So, at what time should I be at your house, tonight?" He asked me as I was drinking my coffee. I furrowed my brows before remembering the dinner with my parents.

"Do you really want my headache to get better or not?" I said. I really didn't want to think of this dinner right now. Even though I was happy that my parents finally agreed to get to know Ezra and I as a couple, I couldn't help but be nervous.

Ezra chuckled. "Come on, I'm the one who should be nervous!It's going to be just fine!"

As I made a face he added, "It can't be worse than the last time we all were in the same room!"

Ezra got up from the table and began to do the dishes. I was about to go the bathroom when I suddenly got a better idea. I walked up to him and wrapped my hands around his waist before pressing my lips against his neck. He turned over to face me, astonished and I attacked his lips.

"Aria, what…"

"Shh!" I said, pressing my index on his lips.

"I'm not drunk anymore and… I still have this sexy underwear." I seductively said. This argument seemed to sound good to him because he wrapped his arms around my waist and kissed me passionately by pushing me toward his bed.

* * *

Ezra dropped me at home in the middle of the day. I helped my mother to make everything up for tonight and, in the late afternoon, I joined the girls at Spencer's house.

"Hey!" They greeted me when I entered Spencer's room.

"How are you?" Hanna asked me.

"Hum, I'm fine, except that thanks to you and your little game, I made a fool of myself in front of Ezra, yesterday night!" I ironically said causing Hanna to laugh.

"What did you do?" Emily asked me.

I blushed as I remembered what Ezra had told me. "It doesn't matter!" I replied, avoiding Emily's question.

"Guys, talking about yesterday night, I remembered something." I started. "Do you remember the day Alison told us that she had slept with a married guy?"

Emily nodded. "I do!"

"So do I!" Spencer and Hanna added.

"Maybe this guy has nothing to do with Ali's murder, but I can't help myself from thinking that all of this is linked. I mean the guy who Alison was meeting with at the hotel, this Lolita book… She was seeing someone before her death, and I'm pretty sure that this person has something to do with what happened to her!"

Spencer sighed. "If only we knew who he is, but we don't have a single clue!"

"It's the point, we have nothing!" Emily said.

"Guys, I'm thinking of something!" Hanna suddenly said.

As we all looked at her she continued. "Aria, the book,that Spencer found in her lake house, _Lolita,_ you said that it was a very rare edition, didn't you?"

I nodded in agreement. "It's what Ali had told me, yes!" I said, remembering the day, in Ali's garden, when I had seen her reading this book.

"Okay, so maybe we should go where the book has been bought, if it's a very rare edition they should remember who bought it or even have his name on a record," Hanna pointed out.

"Brilliant, Han!" Spencer exclaimed causing a glowing smile to spread across Hanna's face. "I don't even know why we hadn't thought of that before!"

Spencer immediately got up and walked up to her desk to take the got the old yellowish book out of the drawer and she came back on the bed before opening the book. We looked at the first page and I put my finger on a logo on the left corner of the page.

"_Philadelphia library_!" Hanna read out loud.

"We should go there!" I said. "As Han said, maybe they will be able to tell us who bought this book!"

Suddenly the door opened and Spencer's mom entered the room.

"Honey, I…" Mrs. Hasting interrupted herself when she spotted us on Spencer's bed.

"Oh, sorry, I didn't know you were here, girls!" She told us smiling.

Spencer smiled to her. "It's okay, Mom!"

"I just wanted to tell you that I'm leaving, I got a call for a case and I need to go. Your father should be here soon," she told her daughter.

Spencer nodded. "Okay!"

Spencer's mother was on the point to leave the room when her eyes caught the book that Spencer had still in her hands.

"Oh, I didn't know we still had this book!" She said.

Spencer furrowed her brows. "What do you mean?"

"I thought your father had got rid of it a long time ago!" Spencer's mother replied.

"Wait! It was Dad's book?" Spencer asked, her eyes wide open.

Mrs. Hasting nodded. "Yes, actually it was his father's and he got it when he died. But I thought he had sold it, he didn't stop saying that it was a very rare edition and that he could make money with it." Spencer's mother said, shaking her head as if it was a stupidity.

The girls and I shared a glance as Spencer got pale.

"Honey, is everything okay?" Mrs. Hasting asked Spencer.

"Y-yes!" Spencer stammered.

"Okay, so see you later. Bye, girls!" Spencer's mother said before leaving the room, closing the door behind her.

Nobody dared to say a word after Mrs. Hasting's leaving. Spencer was staring vacantly into space, probably processing what her mother had just said.

"Spence," I said, gently touching her shoulder.

"It can't be true!" She said, still staring vacantly into space.

"Spence, it doesn't prove anything, maybe your father gave it to Ali just like that, because she loved this story!" Emily said, trying to comfort her.

I was doubtful. Alison had refused to tell me who had given her the book. Why would she have done that if it was a simple gift from Spencer's dad?

"Come on, guys, don't tell me you believe that!" Hanna suddenly said.

Emily and I shot her a glance.

"Why did he give her this book?" Spencer said, totally lost. "It doesn't make any sense!"

"Maybe to shut her up," Hanna said.

"What?" Spencer said, this time looking at Hanna.

"Spence , I know you don't want to hear that, but maybe Ali was threatening your father to tell your mother about Jason being his son, and maybe it's why he gave her this book and surely others things," Hanna advanced.

Spencer shook her head. "Hanna, stop! I know exactly what you're exactly to say; for you my father killed Ali, it's what you think since we discovered that Jason was my brother, but he couldn't have done that, he couldn't!"

Spencer then turned to Emily and I, trying to find support. "Girls?"

We shared a glance. I didn't know what to believe and what to think anymore. I couldn't believe that Mr. Hasting had something to do with Ali's murder but I had to admit that I had doubts.

"So, you too? You think that my father is Ali's murderer?" Spencer said as tears welled up in her eyes.

"Spence, to be honest I don't know, this is weird," Emily replied.

All of a sudden, Spencer got up and gave a hard kick at her door.

"Spence, calm down," I told her.

"Calm down? How can I calm down while you're saying that my father is a murderer?" She replied, the tears now falling down her cheeks.

"Spence, we did not say that! I think we're all overreacting, for now we don't know anything," I tried to comfort her. She sighed and took her head in her hands for a moment.

"I need to talk to him!" She said. "I think you should leave, he will be home soon and I want to be alone when he comes back!"

"Are you sure that it's such a good idea? I mean, you alone with your father? Maybe we should stay with you," Hanna asked.

It was clear that for her, Spencer's father was guilty.

"Hanna, he is my father, he won't touch me," Spencer said.

"But…" Hanna tried to argue with no success.

"No, Hanna, please, I need to talk to my father alone, I will call you after, I promise," Spencer told us.

Hanna sighed. "Fine, we're leaving!"

"Thanks, guys," Spencer said, wiping her tears with the palm of her hand.

Spencer brought us back to the door and we stopped for a moment.

"You call us soon, okay?" Hanna said, worried.

Spencer nodded. "Yes, I promise."

We all hugged her and left her house. The girls and I separated; I got into my car and made my way toward my house.

I couldn't believe that Mr. Hasting could have done something to Ali; he had always been really nice to me and to the girls, including Ali. Moreover, Jason was his son, so how could he have killed his son's sister? It was too cruel.

Suddenly my car began to cough strangely and I just had the time to park along the sidewalk before it completely stopped. I tried to start it again but with no success.

Crap!

I got out of the car and opened the hood in hope to spot the problem. A black and thick smoke immediately came out making me cough. I didn't know anything about mechanics but this smoke was definitely not something good. I sighed and looked around me; there was nobody in the street who could help me. Annoyed, I took my phone out of my purse and dialed Ezra's number. He picked up at the first ring.

"Ezra, it's me, I'm sorry to ask you that but my car broke down, and I need someone to pick me up. Do you think you can come?" I asked him.

"_Of course, no problems, I'm glad you called. Where are you?"_

I was about to tell him when I recognized my father's car on the corner of the road. I waved and he put his warning light, indicating me that he had seen me.

"Actually, Ezra, my father is coming," I told him.

"_Okay, you're sure?"_ He asked me on the phone.

"Yes, see you tonight, love you" I said before hanging up.

My father parked his car behind mine and opened his window.

"Hey, sweetie! What's going on?" He asked me.

"My car broke down!" I pouted. My father got out of his car and threw a look at my car. After a few minutes he gave up.

"Sorry, but I don't see what's wrong, I'm going to bring you home and we will call a break-down mechanic," my father said.

I agreed and I got into the car with my father.

"Is everything's okay, sweetie? You seem preoccupied!" My father asked me a few seconds later. "Is it about the dinner with Ezra? Don't worry I'm not going to make a scene if it's what you're afraid of!" He added.

I shook my head. "No, it's not that."

"So what is it about?" he asked me. "I know that things have been a little tensed between us the past few months but you can still talk to me, you know."

I hadn't planned to tell anyone about Spencer's father but I suddenly felt the urge to confide. I didn't know why but suddenly it was too much to handle and I needed to talk to someone. Of course, my father wasn't the first person I came to when I needed to talk, especially the past few years but maybe it was time to stop blaming him. After all he had made a huge effort by inviting Ezra over for dinner.

I exalted sharply and began to talk. "Something happened today!" I let out.

My father turned his look away from the road for a second and looked at me. "What happened? He asked me worried.

"It's about Alison," I said. I saw my father tense like every time I mentioned Alison. I guess it was because her murder had affected him a lot. I knew he had always thought that it could have been me instead of her.

"Tell me," my father said, keeping his look on the road.

"You're going to think that it's crazy but the girls and I think that Mr. Hastings might be involved in her murder," I confessed.

"Peter Hastings? Why are you thinking such a thing?" My father asked me, totally astonished.

"Well, a few weeks ago, Spencer found a book which belonged to Ali, actually I even remember her reading this book, she had told me that it was a gift but she had never told me who had given it to her," I explained.

"What does Spencer's father have to do with that?" My father questioned me.

"Today we found out that this same book had been at Spencer's dad before Ali got it," I replied.

"But, Aria, how do you know that it's the same book? There are hundred and hundred editions of each books," my father pointed out.

I shook my head. "I know, but it's a rare edition." I said.

"Which book are you talking about?" My father asked me.

"_Lolita_."

Suddenly my father braked violently causing me to practically hit the dashboard.

"Dad! What's going on?" I asked him.

"I'm-I'm sorry, I saw a cat on the road," he replied.

He seemed strange, as if he was shocked; he wasn't even looking at me.

"Dad, are you okay?" I asked him, worried.

He finally looked at me for a seconds and replied, "Yeah, don't worry," he said, starting the car.

"So where is this book now?" He asked me a second later.

"With Spencer, she will confront her dad as soon as he comes home, she's probably talking to him, right now," I said as my father stopped the car at the red light.

"I hoped it's not what we think, I mean, he is his father, how to imagine that your own father is the one who killed your best friend or who is involved in her death?" I added. My father started his car and I noticed that he had taken the wrong way.

"Dad, what are you doing? The house is on the other side, did you forget where we live?" I told him, jokingly.

My father did not reply immediately but when he did his voice was harsh and strange and he had an expression that I had never seen on his face before.

"I'm sorry, but we can't come back home now, Aria."

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**So, I know you must be pretty confused but everything will become clear in the next chapter which is a very important one, but I would love to hear your thoughts and guesses.**

**Please review. **

**XOXO**


	22. Chapter 22

**Thank you so much for your reviews :**Nabrenda12,Guest,YaleAce,krissyucoofoo, xX Dimka's girl 4 ever Xx,HarrylovesGinny09,Mad, Notinyourlifetimehoney,EzriaB-26 and Nathalya.

**Here are the answers to your questions.**

**A little part of the chapter is from Spencer's POV and I put some sentences in bold and italic , they are quotes from the other chapters.**

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**Chapter Twenty two**

**Spencer's POV**

I tried to compose myself before my father comes back. I couldn't believe that the book belonged to him. I didn't see any simple reason why he would have offered this book to Ali. It wasn't as if it was just a simple book; it was a pretty expensive one. And even if it was just a gift, why had Ali lied to Aria when she had asked her who had given her the book? It didn't make any sense, any sense at all.

Against my will I began to accept Hanna's theory and it scared me to death. It couldn't be true. My father couldn't have killed Alison or even be involved in her murder.

I jumped when I heard the door slam downstairs and the fear took immediately possession of me. I wasn't sure if I would be able to confront my father but I didn't have a choice, I needed to know the truth. I grabbed the _Lolita_ book on my bed, took a deep breath and left my room to join my father in the kitchen.

"Dad?" I called out, my heart beating faster and faster.

My father, who was pouring himself a cup of coffee, turned over to face me and smiled. "Hey, Sweetie! I didn't know you were here! How are you?"

"We need to talk!" I said coldly without answering his question.

My father frowned. "Is everything's okay?" He asked me, probably alarmed by my serious tone and my pale face.

"Not really!" I honestly replied.

"What's going on?" My father asked me, taking a tentative step toward me.

"Do you recognize this book?" I asked him, holding the old book in front of him.

Astonished, my father glanced at the book and nodded . "Yes, it was mine, I think."

"Oh, _you think_?" I irronically asked.

"Spencer, what does that mean?" My father asked me, astonished.

"Do you know who had this book, Dad?" I asked him. Before he could say anything, I answered my own question. "Alison! So, if this book was yours, can you explain to me why Alison had it? Did you give it to her?" I confronted him.

"Why would I have offered a book to your friend?" My father asked me.

"I don't know, maybe because you wanted her to shut up, maybe it isn't the only gift you gave her!" I said, raising my voice.

"What are you talking about, Spencer?" My father said.

"Alison knew about Jason and maybe she wanted to tell everyone the truth, it's why you wanted her to shut up!" I replied.

"What? Spencer, we have already talked about that, I have never talked with Alison about Jason, maybe she knew but I didn't know it!" My father said.

I then took a step closer to him and looked at him straight in the eyes. "Did you do something to her?" I suddenly asked.

"Spencer, you don't seriously think that…." My father tried to say.

"Did you kill her, Dad? Tell me truth!" I suddenly yelled, losing my temper as tears began to fall down my face.

I saw my father open one's eyes wide in surprise and shock.

"Spencer, you're totally crazy, how dare you believe such a thing? I have never touched her!" My father snapped, defending himself.

"So, how do you explain that she had your book? And don't tell me it wasn't the same book, it's a rare edition!" I snapped at him once again.

"But I don't know why she had this fucking book, I sold this book many years ago and I can even tell you who I sent it to!" My father said.

"Oh, really? So who?" I asked my father, ready for another lie.

"Byron Montgomery!" He let out.

I looked at him in disbelief. "Aria's father?" I asked, totally stunned by this revelation.

"Yes! It was your grandfather's book, but you know me, I'm not a voracious reader and one day as I had invited Byron over for a coffee, he saw the book and proposed to me to buy it," my father said.

He could be lying but this made sense. I had never seen my father reading a book except maybe when he was reading _Little Red Riding Hood_ to Melissa and I when we were little; on the other hand, Aria's father was an English professor, passionate with reading.

"So now what? Are you going to accuse Aria's father of being Alison's murderer?" My father said with a quizzical expression upon his face.

"Oh, my God!" I let out, and before my father could add a word, I rushed upstairs and grabbed my phone before dialing Aria's number.

* * *

**Aria's POV**

I looked at my father astonished. "Dad? What's going on? You seem really strange, why can't we go home?"

He ignored my question and kept his eyes on the road as if he hadn't even heard me. I was about to insist when my phone rang. I took it from my purse and looked at the screen, it was Spencer. I was on the point to take the call when my father stopped me.

"Don't answer!" He firmly said.

"Why?" I asked him, confused.

"Because we need to talk," he strangely replied. Something in his tone told me that he was serious so I complied and rejected the call before putting it back in my purse.

I then looked at my father, waiting for him to talk. "Dad, what's going on? You're scaring me," I told him. And it was true, my father seemed to be another man, I didn't even recognize him.

"What is going on is that Spencer is talking with her father about the book, and he will tell her who the book belongs to," my father replied, keeping his eyes on the road.

I looked at him totally confused. "What do you mean? Do you know who this book belongs to?" I asked him.

My father kept silence for a few seconds as his hands gripped the steering wheel nervously before answering my question.

"Me!" He merely replied.

I looked at him with confusion written all over my face. "What? What are you talking about?"

"I bought it from Spencer's father years ago," my father said.

"But if it's your book, so why did Ali have it?" I asked him more and more confused.

My father sighed. "I gave it to her."

"Why?" It didn't make any sense, I was totally lost.

"It was a gift," he replied, still avoiding my look**.**

"_**It's a gift!"**_

"_**From who?"**_

"_**If I told you, you wouldn't believe me!"**_

My conversation with Ali about the book came to my mind as soon as the words fell from my father's lips.

"A gift? Why would you give Ali a gift?" I asked him, amazed.

My father did not reply immediately, he kept driving, keeping his look on the road. Then he sighed once again as if he was going to say something that he didn't really want to say.

"Alison was blackmailing me," he finally let out.

I opened one's eyes wide, totally stunned by my father's revelation. "What? Why? Why did Ali blackmail you?"

"She threatened me to tell everything to your mother about my affair," he replied.

The day I found out about Meredith and my father instantly came back to my mind. Alison was here, with me. She was the only one who knew about it. Did she really use this information to blackmail my father?

"So you gave her money to keep your secret safe?" I said, amazed. It was just so unreal. It would have been so much simpler to tell my mother everything instead of giving Ali what she was asking for. I couldn't believe that my father had been stupid enough to give in to Ali's blackmail.

My father nodded. "Yes, I couldn't let her destroy our family."

"This is crazy! It would have been easier if you had told Mom about you and Meredith instead of giving her money! You should have known that you wouldn't be able to keep this secret from her forever anyway! I knew too, I could tell her at any moment!"

"You only knew about Meredith, that was all!" My father said.

I furrowed my brows. "What are you talking about?"

Like a few minutes earlier, he did not reply immediately and kept concentrating on the road. I didn't even know where he was taking us and I wasn't sure that he knew it himself but I didn't care. For the moment, the only thing I cared about was the conversation that my father and I were having.

"Dad?" I insisted. "What do you mean by _'only about Meredith?"_

He then looked at me and said the last thing I had expected him to say.

"Alison didn't want to tell your mother about my affair with Meredith, she wanted to tell her about me and her," he finally confessed.

"_**What? You really slept with a married man?"**_

"_**Guilty".**_

His sentence hit me like a bullet. At this moment, I felt like my whole world was falling apart. He couldn't have said _that_, he couldn't have done _that_! Not him, not my father. It couldn't be true.

"You and…. Alison?" I said as I suddenly got nauseous at this disgusting and unbearable thought.

"Yes, we had an affair," my father replied.

"How could you? This is disgusting!" I said, tears filling my eyes. I just couldn't stand the picture of my own father touching my best friend, my fifteen years old friend this way! It was disgusting, horrible.

"I have never wanted that to happen, I swear to you, but it did! A few weeks after you two saw me with Meredith in my car, she came to see me. She told me she knew that I loved young girls and she seduced me. I said no, I swear, she was so young, too young, I knew it was wrong. But she didn't stop. Every time she came to our house she was flirting with me, she pushed me until I couldn't resist anymore and then...well it happened! " He explained, causing me to press my hand against my mouth to suppress the nausea.

As he was talking, explaining how he had ended up having an affair with my best friend, I finally understood why she loved_ Lolita_ so much. If she was so much addicting to this story, it was because, in a way, she was _Lolita._

I shook my head, the tears now falling down my face. "She was fifteen! She was my age! How could you do that? She was just a kid; she didn't know what she was doing!" I snapped at him. It was just too much to handle.

"Yes, I know, but I'm a man, Aria, I haven't been able to resist," he said.

"Oh my God!" I said, taking my head in my hands.

"It didn't last long, just a few weeks; I knew it was wrong so I told her I wanted it to stop," my father said.

My conversation with Drew, the boy who had told the girls and me that Ali used to meet with an older man at the hotel, instantly came back to my mind.

"You're a liar! I know you were meeting her at a hotel during almost a year," I accused him as the tears came faster down my face.

"Yes, it's true but it wasn't for what you think, I met her there to give her the money. When I told her it was over, she got mad and she said that if I didn't pay her she would tell everything to Ella and you, so I did what she wanted me to do!" My father explained to me.

I kept listening to him, more and more shocked. It was as if it wasn't real life but a movie or a dream, it just couldn't be true, it couldn't be happening, I was going to wake up.

"During nine months, I gave her the money she wanted, but I couldn't keep doing it, it needed to stop," my father continued.

_It needed to stop!_ My father's sentence resounded in my head as a terrible and unbearable thought hit me. Until this moment, this thought hadn't even occurred to me but why would I have thought about that? He was my father, the man who had raised me. He had done horrible things but he couldn't have done _that. _

"So what happened next?" I asked him, trying to control the trembling in my voice.

"I went to talk to her, we needed to discuss," he said.

"When? When did you talk to her?" I asked, raising my voice. At this moment I wanted him to tell me any day except the one I was thinking about, the one which had changed my whole life forever.

"On Labor Day," my father replied, destroying all my hopes.

"No..." I shook my head. "What did you do?" I asked him, trembling and dreading the answer.

"Aria, she didn't want to listen to me, she said she would tell everything, she said she would send me to jail, she…"

"Dad, what did you do?" I asked again sternly, interrupting him.

"I didn't want that to happen but I couldn't let her destroy our family, I did it for all of you! I needed to…"

"WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER? ANSWER ME! WHAT DID YOU DO TO ALI?" I yelled, totally losing my temper.

"Aria, Sweetie, calm down! You need to understand…" my father said.

"NO, I WANT THE TRUTH! WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER?" I screamed again. I was beside myself with rage and anger and I couldn't control myself anymore.

"FINE!" My father yelled. "You want the truth? So I'm gonna give it to you!"

_**"Some things are better left unsaid!"**_

_**"Every truth has a prize, Aria."**_

_**"The truth will destroy you!"**_

He then began to speak and I know I will never be able to forget what he said then. What he said then was worse than everything which had happened during the past two years. Worse than my accident, worse than the day I had spotted him with Meredith, worse than what Lucas had done to us, worse than the day Ali had disappeared and even worse than the sight of her dead body on a stretcher. At this moment I would have preferred to die instead of hearing this sentence. I had wanted the truth so badly but Lucas was right, the truth did destroy me.

"I killed her! Are you happy? I took this fucking hockey stick and I killed this little bitch!"

* * *

**So, first, congratulations to the ones who had guessed :)**

**I had this idea since the beginning and I hope, you guys love it.**

**Please review to tell me what you think and if you have any questions I will answer you in the next chapter. Also, the next chapter will be a long flashback of the day Alison died.**

**Xoxo**


	23. Chapter 23

**Thank you so so much for all your reviews, guys.**

HarrylovesGinny09 :Byron killed Ali?

**Yes he did. Byron is Alison's killer.**

**This chapter is a flasback of the day Alison died.**

* * *

**Chapter twenty-three**

**_General POV_**

**_Rosewood, Labor Day 2009_**

_Byron Montgomery left the bar where he had spent his evening in, and made his way toward his house. He had told Ella that he was celebrating his leaving for Iceland with two of his colleagues from Hollis, but the truth was that he needed to clear his head. _

_Two weeks ago, he had announced his wife that he wanted to spend a year in Iceland. It would be a great opportunity to discover a new country, and for the kids it would be an amazing experience. That was what he had told Ella, but the real reason was that it would permit him to escape the person who was blackmailing him for nine months: Alison Dilaurentis. _

_He still couldn't understand how he had got himself __into such a mess. _

_What the hell was he thinking when he had slept with a fifteen year old girl? _

_He didn't feel guilty for having slept with her, he was only angry with himself for having let her take the upper hand. Now he was trapped and it was because of it that he had decided to move to Iceland with his family. _

_Ella had accepted and they had told the kids the day before. But he knew that Alison was going to be pissed and he was scared of what she could do. __It couldn't continue like that, he couldn't keep giving her money, it needed to stop; it's why he needed to talk to her as soon as possible. _

_He had told her a few weeks ago that he didn't have enough money anymore, but she hadn't wanted to hear anything, swearing that if he didn't pay she would tell Ella and Aria about their affair. _

_She was going to learn that he was leaving, if she didn't know it yet. __Of course__, he had asked Aria not to tell anything to her friends yet in fear that Alison learns the new from her instead of him, but her daughter wasn't the kind of kid who listened to what he said._

_He engaged his car in the Dilaurentis and Hasting's street and he suddenly spotted two persons a few meters away from the Hasting's guest house. __He slowed down and it didn't take him long to recognize Alison. He remembered that Aria had told Ella and him __the same morning __that she was spending the night at Spencer's guest house with her friends to celebrate the last night of the holidays. _

_He stopped his car along the sidewalk and looked at Alison and the boy who she was talking to. __They seemed to be fighting __and Byron finally identified the boy as Ian Thomas, a P.E teacher from Rosewood high, Aria's high school._

_What the hell was going on?_

_What was Alison doing with this guy?_

_What were they fighting about?_

_But it was none of his business; after all, Alison was nothing to him. She was just a mistake, a stupid and terrible mistake, __nothing more._

_He was on the point to start his car when, suddenly, he saw Ian picking up __a hockey stick and hitting Alison on the head who instantly fell on the ground as Ian ran away as fast as he could._

_Byron immediately got out of his car and ran toward Alison. He couldn't let her like that, especially if she was hurt._

_He reached the young girl and knelt down next to her. "Alison, are you alright?" _

_The young girl groaned loudly and he helped her to stand up._

"_What happened?" He asked the teenage girl._

"_This son of a bitch tried to kill me!" Alison swore, visibly angry._

"_You're sure that you're alright?" Byron asked her with concern as he spotted the bleeding on her head._

"_I'm fine," she replied coldly._

"_But, you're bleeding," he said. He tried to touch her face to get a better view of her wound but she rejected him brutally._

"_Don't touch me!" She practically yelled, aggressively._

"_Alison…"_

"_What are you doing here anyway?" Alison asked him._

"_I was on my way home and I saw Ian hitting you," __he replied._

"_Well, you can go back to your wife now," Alison said. _

_Byron tensed at the way she said 'wife', and it reminded him what he needed to tell her. Maybe it was the perfect occasion._

"_Alison, we need to talk," he told her. _

"_We have nothing to talk about," Alison said, already turning her back to him._

"_I have something I need to tell you, it's important." Byron insisted._

_Alison immediately stopped and turned over to look at Byron. "Oh really? Let me guess, you're leaving for Iceland, aren't you?" She ironically said._

_Byron sighed, so she already knew! He was going to have to explain now._

"_Aria told you!" _

"_Of course she did, I'm her best friend," Alison replied. _

"_Look, Alison…"_

"_What were you thinking?" Alison interrupted him. "That you were going to fool me like that? You said that you didn't have money anymore but you have enough money to move to Iceland!" She shouted._

"_Alison, this has to stop, we can't continue like that, I can't continue to pay you for the rest of my life." Byron said._

"_Yes, you're right! It can't continue like that, it's why I'm going to tell the truth to Aria and your wife!"_

_Byron's blood immediately froze. "You can't do that, Alison!"_

_A mocking smile crossed Alison's face. "Of course, I can, I can do whatever I want!"_

_Byron had got to know Alison and he perfectly knew that she wasn't joking. __There was nothing she was afraid of, __and he had no doubt that she was able to tell everything to his wife and his daughter._

"_It's going to destroy my family," he said in attempt to make her change her mind._

"_You should have thought of your precious family before fucking me," Alison said__._

"_It was a mistake, a stupid mistake, how long are you going to make me pay for that?" Byron asked her, raising his voice._

"_When your family knows who you really are. A pig!" Alison snapped._

"_You're the one who seduced me!" Byron retorted, getting angry._

_The young girl laughed at his sentence. "But it doesn't matter, you're the adult, you should know better! Who do you think people believe Lolita or Humbert Humbert?" She said, __referring to her favorite book, the same book he had given her._

_He perfectly knew that she was right; if she talked everybody would see him as a pervert who had taken advantage of a young teenage girl._

"_Alison, please, don't tell them," Byron begged her. _

_Alison couldn't help but smile as she saw how miserable Byron looked like. "__I'm sorry, I can't! Aria needs to know which kind of man you really are."_

"_She will hate you as much as me," Byron tried to convince her. He knew that Alison cared a lot __about what her friends thought of her and __maybe it was the only argument which could make her change her mind._

_But Alison giggled mockingly. "I don't think so. Aria can't hate me, she adores me, but you, she already hates you for what you did with Meredith!" _

_Byron knew Alison was right. His own daughter hated him; he could see it every day in her eyes. What would happen if she learnt that he had slept with her best friend? _

_But his family wasn't the thing which feared Byron most. If Alison talked, he was finished. Alison was a minor and worse, she was under the age of consent. If the police learnt that they had had an affair he would end up in jail._

"_Alison, you can't tell them!" Byron said, raising his voice in anger._

"_Oh, watch me," the teenage girl said, leaving him. _

_Byron caught her by the arm and forced her to look at him. "I won't let you destroy my family!" He yelled. "And you know what Alison? There is something you forget when you compare yourself to Lolita and me to Humber Humbert. As crazy as it is, Humbert loves Lolita, even if he is a monster, he does love her. But, me, I have never loved you, never and I will never do!" Byron said, spitefully._

_Alison felt hurt by her ex lover's sentence because even if she would never admit it to herself, during a while, she had had feelings for him and as crazy as it was she probably still had. He made her feel special. But she knew that he had just been using her for sex as the pig that he was. Once he had gotten what he wanted he had ditched her, and now she was going to make him pay for that, like Lolita had made Humbert pay for what he had done to her. He was going to get what he deserved; she was going to make sure of that. She bite her lip to prevent the tears from falling down her face. She didn't want him to think that he could have an affect on her, she didn't want to give him this pleasure._

_She looked at him straight in the eyes and said sternly, "Look, you fooled me and now you're going to regret it. I will tell Aria as soon as she wakes up tomorrow, and there is nothing you can do against that," __she said before turning her back to him._

_But Byron didn't agree with Alison's last sentence, there was still one thing that he could do. As Alison was walking away from him, he picked up the hockey stick that Ian had used a few seconds before, and called out Alison's name._

"_Hey, Alison!"_

_The young girl turned over, ready for another try of dissuasion, but before she could even open her mouth, Byron hit her as hard as he could on the head and watched her thin body falling on the ground as the blood covered her pretty face._

_During a few seconds he looked at the teenage girl's dead body without doing anything, the hockey stick still in his hands. He hadn't wanted that, he wasn't a murderer but she had provoked him, it wasn't his fault! _

_He then leaned forward her and pressed his finger against her neck to feel her pulse. _

_Nothing! She was dead. _

_He had killed her. _

_He suddenly realized that he was standing above a teenage girl's dead body, a hockey stick full of blood in his hands. __He couldn't let her like that, he needed to do something before someone comes._

_He looked around him, panicked and his eyes immediately caught something in Alison's garden. There was a place, just behind their house, surrounded by trees. _

_Nobody would ever search there._

_Without wasting any second, he lifted her body in his arms and carried it up to the place. There was a little ditch on the side, so Byron put Alison down into it and __began to shed ground all over her thin body. _

_Suddenly, with his precipitation, his watch fell from his pocket straight into the hole. He swore, put his hands into the hole to take it back, and all of a sudden he felt Alison's hand grab his wrist. He jumped in surprise and shock, and when he stared back at Alison, her eyes were wide open. _

_She wasn't dead. She wasn't dead. He hadn't killed her. _

_ A soft moan escaped her mouth but when she tried to speak nothing came out._

_He was about to do something to get her out of the hole __when something came to his mind. She would talk to the police. Now that he had tried to kill her there was no way she would spare him. She would tell them what he had done. __She would tell them that not only had he slept with her but had also tried to kill her to shut her up__. It would ruin his life. He would end up in jail for the rest of his life. His family would hate him for what he had done. He couldn't let her do that. He couldn't let that happen._

_He stared again at Alison's face which was mixed with ground and blood, her eyes begging him for help. __He took a deep breath and took his arm away from Alison's grip, and, as if she wasn't still alive, as if she wasn't looking at him, begging him to let her live, he kept putting ground over her face until the fifteen year old girl, his lover and his daughter's best friend was entirely covered with ground. _

_After making sure that he hadn't left any traces, he went back to his car and made his way to his house, trying to persuade himself that this had never happened, that he was Byron Montgomery, a good teacher, a loving husband and father and not a man who had slept with his daughter's fifteen best friend and who had just buried the teenage girl alive._

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**_So, now you know what have really happened. I think it was important to see what happened between Alison and Byron. _**

**_The next chapter picks up where the last chapter finished, with Aria and Byron. _**

**_Please review._**

**_And I'm sorry for my mistakes._**

**_xoxox_**


	24. Chapter 24

**Thank you so much for your reviews, **

**what lies beneath the surface, Guest, miapotter123, YaleAceBella12, prettylittleliarslover, krissyucoofoo, WWKMDbracelets10, HarrylovesGinny09 and Notinyourlifetimehoney. **

**I'm glad you loved the flashback ;I hope you will love this chapter as well.**

* * *

**Chapter twenty-four**

**Aria's POV**

When I was a little kid, I used to think that there were monsters under my bed which were going to eat me if I opened my eyes. No matter how many times my parents told me that monsters didn't exist, that they only existed in my imagination, I kept believing that they were real and that they were going to hurt me.

I wasn't totally wrong. Monsters do exist. The only thing I didn't know yet was that they are not these kinds of beasts with big teeth and spines all over their body. They are exactly like everybody and they even live among us.

It can be your colleague who you have lunch with; this good guy who never misses an occasion to make a joke but who also beat his wife every night. It can be your neighbor who you smile to every day, unaware of his attraction to little girls. It can even be this guy from your school; this nice boy who holds the door for you but who also put drugs in girls' drink to take advantage of them.

Yes, monsters can be everywhere and sometimes closer that you think. But the worst is that a monster can be someone you love.

It's what happened for me. It was someone I did love. In my case the monster was the man who had raised me, who had taught me how to swim, who had read stories to me and my little brother to help us to sleep. It was the same man who had told me that monsters didn't exist and who had comforted me when I was scared. In my case, the monster was my own father.

"_I killed her! Are you happy? I took this fucking hockey stick and I killed this little bitch!"_

I felt a puissant nausea growing inside of me as this unbearable sentence fell from my father's lips. It couldn't be true, it was a nightmare, he couldn't have done that, no, he couldn't have killed her, he couldn't have killed my best friend. Not him, not my father.

I began to feel dizzy as the nausea intensified and I knew I wasn't going to be able to hold it back for a long time.

"Stop the car!" I told my father as I tried to hold back my nausea.

"I can't do that Aria!" My father said. "I can't let you go!"

I looked at him, totally shocked as the fear took possession of me. "And what are you going to do? Are you going to kill me like you killed Alison?" I asked him spitefully.

He looked at me, confusion stretched on his face. "What? Aria, you're my daughter, I would never do that to you, I love you."

His words only made my nausea to intensify. How could he even say that he loved me after confessing to killing my best friend?

"Don't ever dare to say that you love me! You're a monster!" I yelled at him, tears falling down my face.

"I did that to protect our family, you need to understand!" My father justified himself once again.

"But you KILLED Alison, how do you want me to understand? You had an affair with her and then you killed her to shut her up! She was just a kid and you killed her! You killed my best friend!" I repeated as the tears flowed down my cheeks.

Suddenly the nausea was too much to hold, I needed him to stop the car right now. I couldn't wait any more.

"Stop the car," I asked again, weakly.

My father probably saw my pale face because he complied and stopped the car. I opened the car door and immediately throw up on the ground.

When I raised my head I noticed that we weren't in Rosewood anymore. I hadn't even realized that we had been driving for so long.

I could have run away but my legs were unable to carry me, I couldn't do anything. I just inhaled sharply and closed my eyes, trying to suppress my headache and the nausea which was still here. But as I closed my eyes the only thing I could see was the picture of my own father hitting Alison with a hockey stick before burying her alive and I wondered if I would ever be able to see something else. I wondered if some day I would be able to stop seeing this unbearable picture.

"Aria," my father said, putting a hand on my shoulder.

"Don't touch me!" I snapped at him with disgust.

"Just drink a bit!" He told me holding a bottle of water. I grabbed it from his hands and took a long sip, letting the water appease my irritated throat.

"Come on, get back in the car, I'm going to bring you home," he suddenly told me.

I looked up at him in disbelief.

Was he really ready to bring me home?

As my father read the doubt in my eyes he added, "I don't want to hurt you more than I've already had! If you choose to denounce me, I will respect your choice!"My father said.

I didn't make a move, not knowing if I should trust him or not. But when I met his eyes, it was the same look he had always had. The look of the loving father he had been to me. For a few instants, and maybe because I was still feeling dizzy, I saw my father and not Alison's killer. So I got in the car and sat down on the passenger sit. My father came back behind the wheel, started the car and made his way back toward Rosewood.

It didn't take long until I started to feel funny; it was as if I couldn't bring myself to keep my eyes open. Slowly, everything began fuzzy and I suddenly realized that I had forgotten something about monsters: you can't never trust them, no matter how nice or truthful they seem.

"What did you put in the water?" I asked in a low voice.

"Just a little thing to calm you down!" My father replied.

"You trapped me," I said as the effects of the drug that he had given me got stronger. I knew that I was not going to be able to keep my eyes open for a long time.

"I'm sorry, honey, but I had to! We need to talk quietly, I need to make you understand and it was the only way to calm you down," he replied.

I wanted to tell him that there was nothing to talk about, that he had killed Alison, that he was a murderer and that nothing could change that but I suddenly felt unable to keep my eyes open and the last thing I saw was my father making a U- turn before everything went blank.

* * *

I opened my eyes slowly and the light dazzled me. I didn't know where I was and I didn't even know if what had happened earlier was true.

Was it a dream?

Had my father really confessed to killing Alison?

Then I saw him. My father was here, next to me, staring at me and I realized that everything was true.

"Honey, you're awake?" He asked me. He was so calm, as though he was just greeting me on a normal day and not as if he had drugged me after telling me that he had killed my best friend whom he had had an affair with.

I moved into a sitting position and looked around me. "Where are we?"

"You don't recognize?"

I looked around me once again and shook my head in negation.

"Right, you were little the last time we went here. It's Holden's family cabin. We used to come here to fish." My father replied. "Do you remember?"

I did, I had even thought of bringing Ezra here when we didn't know where to meet after my father had prevented us from seeing each other. The only thought of Ezra brought tears to my eyes. I would have done anything to be safe in his arms.

"Why did you bring me here?" I asked my father.

My father sighed. "To talk!"

"There is nothing to talk about!" I sternly said.

"Aria..."

"You killed her! You just told me that you killed Alison, what do you want from me now?" I shouted at him.

"I have never wanted that. Not a single day goes by that I don't regret what I did this night!" He said.

I shook my head; I didn't believe him, not anymore. "I don't believe you; if you were really feeling guilty you would denounce yourself to the police instead of living as if nothing had ever happened!" I snapped at him.

"I would, if it was just about me! But have you thought of your mother and your brother? It would destroy them!" My father said.

"What do you really want from me? Do you want me to keep this secret like I did for Meredith? Are you asking me not to call the police?"

My father kept silence and I knew that I had guessed right. It was exactly what he wanted.

"Oh God! That's exactly what you want! So you want me to keep living as though nothing had ever happened? You want me to go back home with you, smiling as if you hadn't just confessed to killing Alison? How do you expect me to do that?" I snapped at him.

My father looked at me, shaking his head. "Aria, I know it's a lot to ask for, but the only thing I want is to protect our family."

"Do you mean that protecting them means to let them live every day with a murderer? Because it's what you are! A murderer!" I yelled at him.

As soon as the words fell from my lips I saw the anger spread across my father's face and I realized that he still could hurt me, that no matter if he had said that he would never hurt me, he was clearly capable of. I had to admit to myself that as horrible as it was I wasn't safe with him; I wasn't safe with my own father.

"Don't say that!" He said firmly, getting angry.

He probably saw the fear in my eyes because he immediately composed a normal face. "Aria, I'm sorry, I know it's hard for you but you know what I mean, it would destroy them if they knew the truth, I just want to spare them and I know it's what you want too!" He told me.

I couldn't believe what I was hearing. How could he know what I wanted? What I wanted was for Alison to be still alive, what I wanted was for her to get a chance to grow up, to go to college with us, to fall in love! But he had taken everything from her. Everything! Because of him she hadn't even gotten the opportunity to celebrate her sixteenth birthday.

That was when the words Alison had told me in the hospital the night I had almost died came back to me.

"_**There is still something you can do for me."**_

_**"What?" **_

_**"Do justice!" **_

As Alison's request resounded in my head, I realized that my father was wrong; the only thing I wanted was for Alison to be avenged. It was the only thing that mattered. It was what I wanted since we had discovered her dead body; I wanted the monster who had done this to her to pay; even if this monster was my own father.

But if I wanted that to happen I was going to have to do what Alison had taught us during years, what I had become so good at: lying.

I tried my best to compose a normal face and gently nodded. "Okay!" I let out.

My father looked at me, suspicious. "You won't denounce me to the police?"

"No, I don't want Mike and mom to be broken like I am," I said, hoping he was going to buy it. He kept staring at me, suspicion all over his face, but all these years of lies finally borne fruit because he suddenly seemed to relax.

"Thank you, Aria!"

"I'm not doing it for you, only for Mike and Mom!" I retorted.

My father nodded in understanding. "Of course. I understand."

"So, are we coming home, now?" I asked hopefully.

"Yes, I guess we can go if everything is clear between us?"

I nodded. "It is!"

"All right, so let's go!" My father said making his way toward the door.

"Actually, I need to go to the bathroom first," I told him.

But I knew there was no bathroom in the small cabin and that was exactly why I had said that.

"Hum, there is no bathroom here, remember, maybe it can wait until we come back home, we're not that far away," my father said.

"Really, it can't wait," I whined. "I can go into the woods while you're waiting for me in the car."

My father looked at me, still suspicious. I bit my cheek hard as he was staring at me, trying to read my thoughts. It was the only chance I had. He had to buy it. I couldn't go anywhere with him , not after what he had done to me, I would never trust him again; I needed to get myself out of here as fast as possible.

"Okay," my father finally complied causing me to let out a sigh of relief.

We both exited the cabin and I made my way into the woods as my father walked toward his car.

"Don't be long," he told me as I nodded.

I kept walking slowly, aware of my father's eyes on me, and resisted to the urge to run away as fast as I could.

'_Don't screw up' _I kept telling myself. '_You won't get another chance!'_

But as soon as I was sure to be out of eyesight, I immediately took off in a sprint into the woods.

I had been here a few times when I was a little girl but I didn't recognize anything. I kept running as fast as I could, hoping that I was going to bump up into someone or into a road so I would be able to stop a car.

Now my father had surely understood that I had run away and was surely looking for me, probably beside himself with anger; it was just a matter of time before he finds me. I finally stopped after a few minutes, breathless, and lean against a tree to get some rest. As I was trying to catch my breath, my ear caught a noise a few meters away from me. It didn't take me long to realize that it was a car. There probably was a road not far away from me. I sighed in relief and immediately started to make my way toward the noise.

It's when I felt someone grabbing my arm.

"You lied to me!" My father said in a harsh voice as he turned me over to face him. As my eyes met his frozen look I couldn't help shuddering. The man I was looking at had nothing of my father, it wasn't the man who had raised me, who had loved me since I was born, the man who was in front of me wasn't my father but the one who had been able to bury my best friend alive. I was looking straight into Alison's killer's eyes.

* * *

**So what do you think?**

**First, sorry for this cliffhanger, I will try to update soon.**

**I want to inform you that there are just two more chapters left after this one, because as much as I love writing this story, it has to come to an end.**

**Also, if some of you live on the U.S East Coast or in Canada, I hope you're alright, guys, what is happening with Sandy is horrible.**

**And once again, I'm sorry for the mystakes.**

**xoxo**


	25. Chapter 25

**Thank you so much for all your kind reviews on the last chapter.**

**I'm glad that some of you haven't been hit too badly by Sandy even if I'm sure some others have.**

* * *

******Chapter twenty-five**

**Aria's POV**

"You lied to me!" My father said once again, squeezing my arm harder. Anger was etched all over his face and, for a moment, I couldn't even recognize my own father. Never would I have thought that I could be afraid of my father but at this instant I was. I was totally scared of him.

"Dad, please, you're hurting me," I whined as he squeezed my arm tighter.

He didn't release his grip as though he hadn't even heard me, and instead, he grabbed my other arm, pulling me closer to his face whose features were deformed by the anger.

"I can't believe you lied to me like that! What were you going to do? Call the police?" He shouted at me.

"Dad…"

"I can't believe you tried to fool me. I thought I could trust you. You're my daughter for God's sake!" He snapped at me once again, still squeezing my arms.

"Dad, I'm sorry." I said, hoping he was going to calm down. I didn't know what to do but the only thing I knew was that I needed to calm him down before something bad happens.

"Why can't you understand that everything I did was for our family?" He kept yelling at me. "I couldn't let her destroy everything we had! I didn't pressure her into doing anything, she is the one who started and after that she acted as though I had used her, as though she was the victim!"

"But she was!" I snapped at him. I couldn't believe that he was acting as if it wasn't his fault, as if he hadn't done anything wrong.

"She was just a child; she didn't know what she was doing. She didn't deserve to die! You're a monster!"

"Stop saying that, Aria! STOP IT!" My father yelled, losing his temper. I should have listened to him, I should have shut up, I knew it was the smartest thing to do but I was so blind with anger that I just couldn't.

"Why? Does the truth bother you? Because it's what you are, a monster! You are a monster!" I yelled at him, looking at him straight in the eyes.

I immediately regretted my words as soon as I saw my father's eyes fill with anger but it was too late. In a second, and before I could do anything, his hands locked around my throat.

* * *

**Ezra's POV**

I took my eyes off the road for a second to look at Aria's best friend who was sitting beside me. "So, you are telling me that Byron might be involved in Alison's murder and that he might do something to Aria?" I asked Spencer in disbelief.

While I was dressing up for the dinner with Aria's parents, I had been astonished to find Spencer in front of my door. She was upset and was looking for Aria, telling me that she didn't pick up her phone and that her mother had told her that she wasn't home. When I had informed her that Aria was with her dad because her car had broken down my former student's eyes had widened in shock and I had watched her face getting really pale. When I had asked her what was going on, getting worried, she had told me that we needed to find Aria and that she would tell me everything on the road.

And there I was, in my car with my former teenage student, listening to her terrifying theory about my girlfriend's father.

"Yes," she replied.

It was hard to believe. How could Aria's dad even have something to do with Alison's murder?

"I know this is crazy and for now it's just a theory, but it's important that we find Aria," Spencer said.

"But…"

"Look, it's her car!" Spencer suddenly pointed out, gesturing toward a car parked along the sidewalk.

"It's not normal, if her car is still here she should be home now," Spencer said nervously.

" Spencer, calm down, we should go to her home, maybe she's there now," I told Spencer. She agreed and I drove up to the Montgomery' house.

A few seconds later I was standing on the entry porch of Aria's house.

"Ezra?" Ella said astonished as she spotted me in front of her door. "I wasn't expecting you before one hour!"

"I know but….Is Aria here?" I asked her hopefully.

Ella shook her head in negation. "Not yet! I don't know where she is, I thought she was with you but maybe she's with one of her friends."

"She's not." Spencer said behind me. "I called Emily and Hanna and none of them saw her!"

"Spencer?" Ella furrowed her brows in confusion. "What are you doing here?"

"Mrs. Montgomery, can we please come in?" Spencer asked Aria's mother. Ella nodded and stepped to the side to allow us entry.

"So what's going on? Why are you two together?" Ella asked us, intrigued as soon as I closed the door behind me.

"We're looking for Aria, it's very important, we need to find her!" Spencer explained.

"Why? Is something going on?" Ella asked, getting worried.

Spencer and I shared a glance, not sure what to say. How could we explain to her that we worried that her own husband could do something to her own daughter?

"Ella, it could be nothing but… Have you heard from Byron lately?" I asked her.

"No, he must be still working, why?" Ella said, confusion all over her face.

"I think Aria is with him right now, she called me to tell me that her car had broken down and that her dad was coming to bring her home,"

"Okay, so they should be home soon," Ella replied.

"But it was one hour earlier, they should already be home," Spencer objected.

"Well maybe they went to a garage for her car," Ella said.

"No, we saw her car, it's still in the street," I told Ella.

Ella looked at us, astonished and confused. "Okay, well, I don't get it, what is the problem?"

"We're worried about Aria, we just want to make sure that she's okay," I replied.

Ella scowled at me, astonished. "What are you worried about? You have just told me that she is with her father, so there is nothing to worry about!"

Once again, Spencer and I shared a worried glance. "Ella, it's complicated and it could be nothing but…." I stopped, unable to finish my sentence. Was there a good way to tell such thing to a woman? And if Spencer was wrong, I would just make a total fool of myself. I looked at Aria's friend, begging her for help.

The young girl pointed at the cell phone on the table. "Mrs. Montgomery, can you please ring your husband so we will make sure that everything is alright?"

"Well okay," Ella accepted. She took her cell phone and dialed her husband's number.

I waited with anxiety, hoping that he would pick up and tell Ella that he and Aria were on their way home. A part of me hoped that Spencer was wrong and that Aria and her dad were going to pass the door.

"It goes straight to voice mail!" Ella told us a few minutes later as she hung up. "It's weird he never turned his phone off, his phone is probably dead."

Spencer and I glanced at each other anxiously as our fears were confirmed.

"Okay, so what is really going on? Why do you guys seem so worried?" Ella asked, looking at Spencer and me.

Spencer was the first to speak. "Mrs. Montgomery, we might be wrong but…." She began hesitantly. "I don't know how to explain that… A few weeks ago we found a book which belongs to Alison and today we learnt that this book was your husband's."

I saw the confusion spread across Ella's face. "And?"

"We think that he has given it to Alison, as a gift I mean," Spencer said.

Once again Aria's mother seemed really confused, as if she hadn't even had a clue what we were talking about. "Okay, but I'm afraid I don't understand."

"Mrs. Montgomery…." Spencer began hesitantly.

"Can you please be clear and tell me what is really going on?" Ella said, losing patience.

I suddenly realized that we were losing time. Aria could be in danger while we were talking quietly. I needed to tell Ella the truth even if it was going to hurt.

I took a deep breath and I then let out the sentence which, I knew, was going to destroy my girlfriend's mother's life.

"We think that Byron might be involved in Alison's murder!"

I watched as Ella opened one's eyes wide in shock and surprise. "What are you talking about? Are you insane?"

"Ella…"

Ella didn't let me say anything and snapped at me. "Are you seriously telling me that my husband is the one who killed Alison Dilaurentis? How dare you?"

"Mrs. Montgomery," Spencer tried to help me, "I know this is difficult to hear and like Ezra said, we're not sure at all but the only thing that matters is to find Aria!"

Ella listened to Spencer before looking daggers at me. "Ezra, I was starting to appreciate you and to accept the relationship that you have with my daughter, but then you're coming to my house to accuse my husband of being a murderer who can even hurt his own daughter! And worse you're dragging Spencer into your delirium!" Ella shouted at me.

"Ella, the only thing I want is to find Aria and make sure she's okay, I'm worried about her!" I insisted.

"I will ask you to leave, Ezra!" She snapped once again. "I won't tolerate such a thing! My husband is not a murderer; he has nothing to do with Alison's death!"

"Ella, please …" I tried to argue.

"Ezra, this is enough, you better leave now," she said sternly.

"Mom, I think they might be right!" A voice interrupted our argument. We all turned over to see Mike at the bottom of the stairs. I didn't know how long he had been here but I had the feeling that he had heard the whole conversation we had had.

"Mike? What are you talking about?" Ella asked her son.

Aria's brother took a step toward us and stood in front of his mother. "I heard what they said about Dad and Alison…"

"Don't worry about that, Mike," Ella interrupted him. "Ezra has lost his mind, he is leaving." She added looking daggers at me.

"Mom, there something you need to know." Mike started.

As we all looked at the young teenage boy, Mike started to speak.

"The night Alison disappeared, I saw Dad coming back home! It was late, and you were already sleeping, I couldn't sleep so I went downstairs to take something to drink. Dad was in the kitchen, sitting at the table, he seemed really agitated, he had his head in his hands and was shaking, I had never seen him like this before. I didn't know what to do, I wanted to talk to him but something stopped me, he was very weird, so I came back to my room without him seeing me," Mike confessed.

I swallowed hard as Spencer spoke. "This confirms what we thought."

"There's more," Mike added. We all looked at him, waiting for him to talk.

"He kept whispered the same thing over and over again," Aria's little brother confessed.

"What was it?" I asked him.

Mike seemed to hesitate before speaking. "_It's not my fault_!"

"Oh my God!" Spencer said, shocked.

"But… Why haven't you ever said anything?" Ella asked her son.

"Because, it's Dad we're talking about!" Mike replied. "The day after, when Aria came back home, crying because Alison had disappeared, I thought of what I had seen in the kitchen, of course, but I couldn't bring myself to believe that Dad had been able to do something to Alison! I mean he is my dad, and we didn't even know if something had happened to her anyway. But then when they found her body, everything came back to me. I tried not to think about it, but this tiny doubt was haunting me, it's why I started acting strangely and did all the things I did."

"Oh, Mike…" Ella said, her eyes filled with tears.

"Then they arrested Garrett Reynolds for Alison's murder and I thought that everything was over, that what I had seen that night had nothing to do with Alison, you can't even imagine how relieved I was. But now, Mom, I'm not so sure, and I can't keep this for me anymore especially if my sister is in danger," Mike explained.

"That's not possible, not my husband!" Ella said, as a tear rolled down her cheek.

"We need to find Aria and now!" I sternly said. Until this moment, it was just a theory but now everything was becoming real. If Byron had been able to kill Alison so God knows what he could do to Aria. We needed to find her, I needed to hold her in my arms, I couldn't let something happen to her.

"But she's his daughter, he can't hurt her!" Ella said but I saw in her eyes that she wasn't convinced at all.

"Maybe not, but we need to find her!" Spencer told her.

"Ella, do you have any idea where Byron could have taken Aria?" I asked Aria's mother. She was sitting on her couch, looking vacantly into space and I knew she was probably broken.

She looked at me with desperation and shook her head in negation. "No, I don't!"

"Ella, please try!" I insisted.

"I'm trying, what do you think? It's my daughter we're talking about! Do you think I'm not worried?" She shouted at me, visibly upset as more tears fell down her cheeks.

"Ella, I'm sorry, I didn't mean to upset you!" I apologized seeing how devastated she was.

She sighed; wiping some tears away from her cheeks with the sleeve of her shirt and suddenly looked up at us. "The Strauss's cabin!"

"Holden Strauss?" Spencer asked. I remembered that Aria had talked to me about her childhood friend who had come back from Portugal a few months ago. He was the one who she pretended to get out with to be able to see me.

"Yes, they have a little cabin near Rosewood; Byron used to take the kids to fish when they were little and before the Strauss moved to Portugal!" Ella explained.

"Yes, I remember, Dad likes this place," Mike said.

"I'm calling the police!" I said already dialing the 911.

* * *

**Aria's POV**

"SHUT UP! SHUT UP!" He yelled at me as his strong hands squeezed my neck preventing me from breathing.

Was he going to kill me? Was my _own father_ going to take my life like he had taken Alison's?

Was it really my father who was currently squeezing his hands around my throat trying to strangle me?

Did he remember that he used to tell my brother and me that we were the best things which had happened to him when he kissed us goodnight?

Was it possible that he wanted me to die? That he wanted his own daughter to die?

"Daddy, please…" I managed to whisper, begging my father with my eyes.

He kept squeezing my neck as I felt the life leaving me little bit by little bit.

When the police had found Alison's body, I had started questioning myself about death; I had started thinking about the way I would die. I had imagined many different ways but never, even in the worst scenarios, would I have thought that my one father would be responsible for my death.

He kept squeezing my neck, I couldn't breathe anymore and I knew I was going to die but instead of shutting my eyes I did all I could possibly do to keep them open, I wanted my father to see who he was strangling, I wanted him to see what he was doing to his own child.

As I was probably living the last seconds of my life a flash of my past came back to me and during a short second I saw my six-year-old younger self running toward my father in a park as he picked me up in his arms before kissing my cheek as the child I was wrapped her tiny arms around his neck.

Did this man still exist or had he been replaced by this monster?

My father, whose hands were still locked tightly around my throat, met my gaze and all of a sudden, something changed. The anger which had been filling his eyes a second earlier seemed suddenly replaced by something different. Regrets maybe or shame.

That was when, as I was about to pass out, that he finally removed his hands from my neck.

I fell on my knees, coughing violently by trying to catch my breath. I had never thought that it could be so great to breath, to feel the air filling my lungs.

My father looked at me, horrified. "Oh my God, I-I have never wanted that," my father said, taking his head in his hands as I was still on the ground, taking deep breaths after deep breaths.

"I have never wanted that, I didn't mean to hurt you," he said again.

All of a sudden, we heard the police's sirens resound into the woods, there was no doubt that they were coming here; someone had probably called them. My father looked around him panicked and then he looked at me a last time before taking off in a sprint into the woods.

A second later the police was here. I pointed toward the wood and they immediately went after my father with their dogs who were barking loudly.

"Aria!" I suddenly heard a voice calling out my name. I turned over to see Ezra getting out of his car as the relief of seeing me spread across his face.

"Aria, oh my God, are you alright? What happened?" He asked me when he reached me, letting his fingers running along my bruised neck. I opened my mouth to say something but instead broke down in tears.

He immediately pulled me into a tight embrace, kissing the top of my head.

"Your mom is on her way with your brother and Spencer," he whispered in my ear as I hold on to him.

"It's my father, Ezra…" I sobbed against him, soaking his shirt. "He killed Alison, he killed her! He killed her," I repeated as more sobs escaped my lips.

Ezra hugged me tighter against his chest, rubbing my back in small circles. He didn't tell me that everything was fine, that everything was going to be alright but he just held me in his arms, giving me as much comfort as he could, and I was so grateful for that. My own father was the one who had killed my best friend and who had even tried to kill me so, of course, nothing could ever be alright again. Ever.

"We got him!" A policeman's voice resounded into the woods. All of a sudden, four policemen got out of the woods, holding my father who was wearing handcuffs around his wrists.

Ezra pulled away a bit to see what was going on, keeping a protective arm around my shoulders. I looked at my father as he policemen took him to their car. I met his gaze; for a few minutes we stared at each other and then he whispered something to me. I was too far away from him to hear distinctly what he was saying but I saw the words forming on his lips. These words which wouldn't change anything, but which gave me the proof, which could be a tiny comfort in the nightmare I was going through**,** that a tiny part of the monster that my father had begun and that he would always be, still belonged to the man who had raised me.

"_I'm sorry"._

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**What do you think? **

_**What lies beneath the surface: **_**No I'm not related to Marlene King, not at all lol. I was very surprised, in the Halloween episode when I saw that Byron was involved. I didn't think it would happen in the show, but I'm glad though. ****Actually I got this idea of Byron having an affair with Alison because of this Lolita book which has appeared many times in the show. Also I don't know if I will write a sequel to this story, I'm not saying no but as I have already started to write another story I will focus on it for a while, but maybe later, we will see, if I get some juicy ideas^^. **

**Please review and stay tuned for the last chapter.**

**xoxo**


	26. Chapter 26

**Thank you so much for your reviews. **

**Here is the last chapter of this story.**

* * *

**Chapter twenty-six**

**A few months later**

**Aria's POV**

"Byron Montgomery, the supreme court of Pennsylvania condemns you to life imprisonment for the murder of Alison Dilaurentis!"

Ezra squeezed my hand in an attempt of comfort as the judge finally announced his verdict.

It was the fourth day of the trial and the tribunal had finally returned his sentence. My father hadn't even defended himself; he had just confessed everything, his affair with Alison, their fight and her murder, causing a lot of agitation among the audience. During all the trial, I had kept silence, painfully listening how my father had hit my best friend with a hockey stick before burying her alive. As my father had already confessed his murder, the police had told me that I wasn't obligated to attend the trial but I wanted to be there. I wanted to be here to see the promise I had made to Ali to be kept. The girls were here too as well as my mother and Ezra. My brother hadn't wanted to come and I perfectly understood his decision.

I watched as two policemen took my father to bring him back to the cell where he would probably end up his life. I knew it was probably the last time I was seeing him. I met his gaze as he passed in front of me. There was no anger on his face anymore, the madness I had seen in his eyes at Holden's cabin was gone, he just looked like the man who had raised me, he just looked like my father.

At this moment, tears welled up in my eyes and before I knew what I was doing I took a step closer to him and wrapped my arms around him. I knew some people probably wondered why I was hugging him, how I could give a hug to the man who had killed my best friend, but it wasn't this man I was giving a hug to; it was the man who had wiped my tears away when I was little and when I was sad, it was the man who had taught me how to swim, it was the man who had taken me to the park every Sunday morning, it was the man who had reassured me when I woke up from a nightmare. For a second, I wasn't hugging Alison's killer but my father and I knew I needed it, it was the only way possible to move on; I needed to say goodbye to my father.

The policemen took him away and I felt Ezra hand on my shoulder, I turned over and broke into tears into his embrace.

* * *

**A few days later**

"I'm going to miss you so much!" My mother said, hugging me tighter against her chest.

"Mom, we will be apart only for two months and after that you and Mike will join me." I told her

"I know, I know, but I can't believe that my little girl is going to college," she said, her eyes filled with tears.

Two months ago, the girls and I had graduated from high school. It should have been an amazing day but of course I hadn't been able to ignore the empty chair next to my mother and why the person who should have been sitting in it wasn't here. It was also this day that Ezra had told me that he had gotten a job as a high school teacher in California next to the college I would be studying at for the four next years, at hundreds of kilometers away from the town I had grown up in.

Leaving Rosewood wasn't a choice, it was a necessity. I couldn't stay in this town where so many things had happened. I wanted a place where I could have a fresh start, where I could be just Aria and not the girl whose best friend had been murdered, not the girl who had had an affair with her English teacher, and above all of this not the killer's daughter. My mother had decided to leave Rosewood too with my brother and they had planned to join Ezra and me in California as soon as the house is sold.

After what had happened my mother had wanted me to see Doctor Sullivan again. She said that she would help me to get over it, but I knew that even if she didn't want to admit it to herself, she knew that no matter how hard I would try, I would never get over it. There are some things we just can't get over; we just have to learn how to live with. My own father had killed my best friend and had tried to kill me; how does can a person move on from something like that? I knew that I would probably always wake up from a nightmare where my father would kill Alison over and over again, but the only thing which comforted me was the certitude that every time it would happen, Ezra would be here for me.

"Take care of my baby girl!" My mother advised Ezra who was standing next to me.

Ezra wrapped a protective arm around my shoulder and softly kissed my temples. "Always."

"Yeah, take care of my sister, Fitz!" Mike said, entering the living room. My brother had been really affected by all the recent events and he had apologized for not telling me about what he had seen the night our father had killed Alison. But it wasn't his fault, how could he have known?

"Don't worry Mike; I know what you're capable of!" Ezra said pointing to the lip that Mike had punched months ago, as we all laughed.

"Are you leaving right away?" My mother asked us.

I shook my head in negation. "No, our flight isn't before a few hours and there is still something I need to do before leaving."

I hugged my mother and my brother a last time and Ezra and I made our way toward his car which was parked along the sidewalk.

I stopped before getting into the car and turned over to look a last time at the place where I had so many memories, happy memories, mostly, with my family, with my mother, my brother and with my father.

A wave of nostalgia hit me as some happy moments came back to my mind. I knew that this part of my life was over, I would never get back what I had lost and I knew that I would never go back to Rosewood either. There was nothing which attached me to this town anymore.

As I was still standing in front of my house, lost in my memories, Ezra wrapped his arms around my waist before kissing the top of my head. We stayed like this for a few minutes without saying a word, Ezra understanding that I needed this moment. Then we got into Ezra's car and left the house where I had grown up, leaving a part of my life behind us.

* * *

"I'm going to wait for you in the café", Ezra told me as he parked his car along the sidewalk.

"Okay, but it might takes a little while," I warned him.

"Take all the time you need, sweetheart!" He told me. I smiled, gave him a quick kiss and leave the car as he made his way toward _Rosewood grill._

A few minutes later, I finally reached the place where I had planned to go and pushed the little gate of _Rosewood cemetery._

I walked straight to the grave I had visited so many times over the past two years. They were already here, the three of them, waiting for me.

"Sorry, I'm late!" I apologized.

Emily, Spencer and Hanna turned over and smiled to me.

"I can't believe we are all leaving this town!" Hanna said. Like me, the girls were leaving for college in the next few days.

"Not all of us, one of us will never do!" I sadly said as we all looked at the grave in front of us where our best friend's name was etched on the marble. It was the last time that we were all reunited, not the four of us of course, but the five of us.

"I'm sorry, Ali." I said, shattering the silence that we had all created over the past few minutes.

Emily turned to me and looked at me. "Aria, you know that this isn't your fault. We're not responsible for what our parents do!"

"Yes, I know. But I can't help myself from thinking that if Alison hadn't met me, she would never have met my father either and none of this would have happened," I said.

It was the thought which had been haunting me for the past six months. What if I had never met Alison? I also thought that I should have seen something. She was my best friend after all ,and he was my father, I should have realized that something was going on between them.

"But we would never have met you either," Spencer told me, taking my hand in hers.

I smiled to her. She was right. Alison had been the reason we had become friends in the first place. I suddenly realized something I had forgotten: Rosewood wasn't only the place where my father had killed my best friend but also the place where I had gotten the chance to meet her as well as Emily, Spencer and Hanna. I knew I would never find friends like them; we had shared so many things together, had been through so much together.

"I'm going to miss you so much, guys, I don't want to leave you," I told them as my eyes filled with tears.

"No tears, girls, we will meet every holidays" Hanna told us. " And I want to know everything about our lives, especially if it concerns boys, or girls!" She added causing us to laugh despite our nostalgia.

We then all got closer and shared a big hug together, promising to call every day.

"Come on, you should go, Aria, if you don't want to miss your flight!" Emily told me as we separated a few seconds later.

I nodded in agreement and turned a last time to Alison's grave. The time had come. Justice had been done, her murderer was behind bars, now it was time, time to say goodbye to her.

I closed my eyes for a few seconds, remembering her smiling face, her deep blue eyes and even the smell of her perfume.

"Adieu, Alison!" I whispered to the grave in front of me as a tear rolled down my cheek.

We all looked at each other to make sure that everyone was ready to go, that we had all said goodbye to our best friend. The girls nodded and we all began to make our way toward the exit.

As we were slowly walking along the graves, all nostalgic but also relieved, our phones suddenly rang at the same time. We nervously glanced at each other, recognizing this so familiar event; but my face relaxed when I realized that there was nothing to worry about now; A was in jail as well as Alison's killer. The nightmare was over.

Giving each other a reassuring smile we all took our phone from our bags or pockets and read the text.

When I looked up at the girls, they all had the same expression etched on their faces. It was the expression we had had during the past two years every time our phones rang, and I would have identified this expression everywhere: the fear.

Then, all together we read the text out loud like we had done the day of Alison's funerals when eveything had begun.

**Do not rejoice too quickly. The game is not over, because I can't stay away from you, bitches!**

**A**

**THE END**

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**So, what do you think?**

**I couldn't resist for the end even if some people will probably hate me for that. ^^**

**I want to say a big thank you to everybody who read and reviewed this story, I really enjoyed writing it and hearing from you was always a pleasure, so thank you so much. Also thank you for enduring my mistakes.^^**

**Please review this last chapter to tell me what you think even those who have never reviewed, I would love to hear from you too.**

** I also started to write another story but I don't know how long it will take me to post it.**

**xoxo**


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